


















• • ‘-^ %^‘wiSr,^^ <& 

^ 0 tf k'^ .a '^ '’' i ^ ^ s'' ^ 

/ yi:>. % -° '’'" 





■’oo'' 


, '"•‘■‘V 0N< 

ae/r??>^ ^ ,^>i 


A,. 


. - „ ;v ‘ ''/: . . . , >; * ’To 

V X . ^ r ^ 






,*0^ 


-o 0^ : 'T V^ 




> .\' 

fi>^ y 

,A 


v^ c 


^ r«S 


K <^V 






c 

T’v. 0 o " ^ 

^ ^ ^ S' ^ 

cl‘' ci- ^ fN-’ C' ^ o. V ^ ^ 

o'^ ,v.„,°-^^ •■.'• v>T'.”'T-' 



Mk\ 

V‘ 

V. ^ 

Ifltir j|^_^ c^ 
\.£t ^ 


% = 


aO 


^ .V 

" 0 „ V ■* - A 

^ 'p .A » 

■> * 

® "" 

> - ^ 

" •> ' p>0 Q- ^ 

^ ^N0^A) C> <r 

/^ > s- ' ” / C‘ 

> A ' V- f2 '5l '* 'P 

^ ^ « ^v^crW/v? 


'-> -^Z; '-->•' .-v 

a O 



" ,A ■ A/*, 



N -A 



aO c> 

rr ^ y y / / f 1 i*>y 7 At A»t. 1 1 \ w N \ ^ 

^ J I >>» -k. ^ 

O ^ ^"CtA^ - o . 

*■ ^ '• 'V ./ A % 




o 


, ^ <* ^ 0 O 

t I A . ^ ^ 



■ . •c u n \ y\ O *''' / ^ s. S A'*'»' ■* n 

s ^ ^ ^ » K '<p 

^ ^ ^ «> ^ O C. v'^ -? 'P 

"'oo'‘ '^•^ > 

«5 ^ 

'v c\ r 



xOq. 

>%>::. w A y<> 




9 :> ^ 

. 0 ^ ^ " 0 A "V 
c:^ ^o .V 





9 O ^ -0 N 0 " O >f 9 ^ 

\' s ^ > O^ V*'^’" 


V c.‘ 

<<r ^ 




^ V^'* 

^ r^ ^ 

’ „ <*■ 

, 0 ^ 

3 M 0 

I 


7 . - V 

%% •%, 'o' 

-WJtIB*- « ,V ^ o 

, 0 ^ <■ % 




<x oo^ 






^ ' A> 

o '% * 


“X 


C>^ ✓ 'V ^ V^ 

o 'ri^\^ ^0 < 

, 0 MC. ^ ^VlB^ 


aV <p^ 

* 'V 


^ ✓ 
' V /A 






cl'- "cP -/> o ^ V<> e:C^// W^ 

■'i qO o 

• ,V ♦ 



^ ' ® >? Ap 

" 

^ =* ^0 
« -0 o 

<y ^ M 0 ^ c^ 

c,^'^'^ p'^iMr \r. d' 









WILD ROCK 


^ Sale op ©wo Seasons 


By WANDERER 






ss-fgj-e— ^ 


Autumn nodding d er the yellow plain 

•‘JofVRIGH 








NEW YORK 


iSj'' Or WASH'^^S^ 


PRINTED FOR THE AUTATOR 
18S4 




V- 




k 


\ 




0 


Copyright, 1884 
By THOMAS BLEYLER 


1 


The Chas. M. Green Printing Co 
74 and 76 Beekman Street 
' NEW YORK 


WILD ROCK. 


A TALE OF TWO SEASONS. 


AUTUMN, 


CHAPTER I. 


•*Te rum, a dum, dum, 

Here's a boy with a drum, 

And his cheeks are as bright as the roses; 
The cap on his head 
And his jacket are red, 

And he comes from among the Red Noses.” 


The Drummer Boy. 



HE great boot and shoe house of Pegg, Awle 


& Leather — strictly wholesale — has many 
travelling salesmen, but I wear the medal for mak- 
ing the largest number of gilt-edge sales. My suc- 
cess, as I often tell Sallie and my six little girls, as 
we sit around the fire at home, is due to my faculty 
for telling stories. My friends admit that I am a 
marvellous story-teller. In my journeys I have 
seen some curious things, and my attractive 
manner of narrating these has gotten off many 


6 


WILD ROCK. 


a lot of questionable .stock for Pegg, Awle & 
Leather. 

Among my reminiscences none have proved so 
generally attractive as the history of some occur- 
rences in the far South nearly twelve years ago. 
At the time, I was laying the foundation of our 
present colossal trade with that section, and was 
detained for a part of two seasons in a country 
called the Delta of the Yazoo. The features of 
this section are peculiar. Seemingly impenetrable 
swamps line either side of the Mississippi River, 
which here carries towards the sea the mingled 
waters of half a continent. 

Within these swamps, hidden by the dense 
foliage, are deep lagoons and lakes dotted with 
Cyprus knees. The air is filled with the perfume 
of the jessamine and the mocking-bird’s song. 
And here and there the sun breaks through the 
forest to light a plantation yellow with nodding 
maize or white with long tresses of cotton. 

One warm September day two men were riding 
on the levee which protects the plantations. The 
sun was setting behind the willows on the opposite 
shore, and threw across the yellow water of the 
river a bridge of light like burnished copper. Both 
horsemen were young, but their appearance was in 
marked contrast. The slight, agile frame, graceful 
bearing, and fine curvilinear face of the dark-eyed 


WILD ROCK. 


7 


rider, with the constant play of his features, now 
shadowed with a passing thought and now spark- 
ling with laughter, seemingly could have little in 
common with the broad, earnest brow and calm 
blue eye of his companion, whose Atlas-like frame 
might bear a world of sorrow. 

“ Wiley,” said the latter, as he reined up his 
horse and pointed to a row-boat near the other 
bank of the river, “ yonder is a woman ‘ paddling 
her own canoe,’ who ten years ago probably had a 
hundred servants at her command. Behold an il- 
lustration of your theory, now in practice, that the 
freedom of the negro shall give this valley its 
highest development.” 

“Upon that idea I fought,” replied the other, 
“ and I am not yet prepared to think I was wrong. 
But,” he added, turning to his companion one of 
his sparkling glances, “ had I known Colonel Ma- 
gruder six years ago, my views and conduct might 
have been different.” 

“Call me not Colonel,” said Magruder, sternly, 
“I buried that at Appomattox. I am a farmer 
now Eustace, with no title except that of my 
people’s friend.” 

“And a greater one you could not select. Bob,” 
answered Wiley Eustace, seriously. “But look!” 
pointing across the river, “your heroine of the 
hundred slaves has learned rapidly in boating. 


8 


WILD ROCK. 


See, she has hoisted a sail, and the batteau (for 
such it seems) skims the water like a swan. Who 
can it be?” 

Robert Magruder shaded his eyes with his hand. 
“ Look before the boat enters the glare,” he said 
to Eustace, “or you will not distinguish her 
features.” 

A moment they stood motionless, like two fine 
equestrian statues, and then, as the little boat 
floated into the eye of the sun, they wheeled and 
galloped into the forest. 

A causeway made of saplings laid crosswise and 
covered with earth led through the swamp from the 
Mississippi River to the hills which are found some 
score of miles beyond the Yazoo. Each side of this 
road luxuriant tangled undergrowth of vines and 
holly bushes and wild flowers hid the black muddy 
soil. Overhead were cottonwood trees, the white 
oaks and cypress, and occasionally a stately mag- 
nolia towered in its gorgeous beauty. 

The horsemen followed this causeway only a 
short distance, when, turning into a road leading 
off on the crest of a slight ridge, they cantered 
under an arch of muscadine vines, and stopped 
before a gate. Wiley threw his bridle-rein over a 
hitching-rack as he leaped from the saddle and 
awaited the movements of his more sedate 
companion. 


WILD ROCK. 


9 


“Ah! here comes Laura," said the latter, as he 
dismounted. “Eustace, she will admit that, once, 
we are in time for tea." 

On the gallery of a square two-story house, 
made of hewn logs, which stood in the centre of 
the yard, appeared now a lady. Her attendant 
was an old man, whose attenuated and bending 
form and vacant gaze indicated that the charms of 
this world were losing their hold upon him ; and 
before these went bounding and barking, toward 
the gate, a fine specimen of the Newfoundland dog. 

“Ah, Meister Eustace," said the old man, as, 
supported by his daughter’s arm, he reached the 
gate, where the Newfoundland was frisking about 
the young men and greeting them in his dog 
fashion, “ye see Bracken is younger than I, and 
he jist gies ye a’ the welcome. But wha ha’ ye 
been, laddies ?" 

“ To the Empire City, to get a big black crow," 
answered Robert, sententiously. 

“ Wha ?’’ asked the old man, with a vacant stare. 

“The wharf-boat, for the newspaper,” said Eus- 
tace, smiling kindly. 

By this time the old gentleman had drawn a 
book of ivory tablets from his pocket, and was 
hastily turning its leaves. “Ah, yes, lads," he 
cried, as Wiley spoke; “I ken, I ken. Frogg has 
names for his things as queer as himsel.” 


lO 


WILD ROCK. 


^‘Father’s memory is nearly gone,” said the lady 
in an undertone to Eustace, “ and he notes on his 
tablets everything unusual.” 

“With his other faculties so strong he may dis- 
pense with this one,” answered the young man, 
“ If I understand, he forgets only recent events ?” 

“Yes,” she said, sadly. “But — ” 

“ Coom on ! coom on ! Eustace,” cried the cheery 
old man, leading the way to the house with Rob- 
ert, his son, “an’ dinna be tellin’ your tales there 
to Laurie.” 

Chatting and laughing, the little party moved to 
the house, and Bracken marched seriously behind 
them, not even wagging his tail, but obviously 
with a sentiment of calm approval. 


WILD ROCK. 


II 


CHAPTER II. 


“ Mine enemy’s dog, 

Though he had bit me, should have 
Stood that night. 

Against my fire.” I< 


King Lear. 



PRETTY picture was Laura, half-timidly 


^ sitting behind the quaint old silver tea- 
service. Large liquid blue eyes reflecting every 
emotion, gave life to her pure Grecian features. 
Masses of golden hair fell over her shapely shoul- 
ders. And the willowy grace of her handsome form 
was hardly concealed by a light sacque which 
harmonized with the shell-like tints of her com- 
plexion. 

“ What a lovely sister !" cried Colonel Bob, 
laughing and kissing her, as he stood by her chair. 

Eustace, we must have a water party.” 

“ Content !” said Wiley, who had just been seated. 

When ?” 

“ On my birthday, of course, sir,” said Laura 
with mock anger. “Shall I not have a feteV 

“You will be Cleopatra,” laughed Wiley; “and 
we shall man your barge.” 


12 


WILD ROCK. 


“A bonnier queen than little Annie Laurie ne’er 
lived,” said old Magruder. “But I fear her fol- 
lowers will be too few for a princess.” 

“ If not so numerous, they will be more devoted,” 
replied Eustace, seriously looking at the blushing 
girl. 

“ Prithee, peace !” cried the young lady, in 
charming confusion, “ or I will be tempted to de- 
sert—” 

Loud barking from Bracken interrupted her, 
and a voice was heard at the gate angrily ordering 
back the dog. A pause in the conversation ensued, 
and all listened. Robert exclaimed: “ Dan Bludger, 
as I live !” then raising his voice, he cried. “ One 
moment. Captain, and I shall be with you.” 

Robert pushed back his chair, and leaving the 
table went to the gate. Old Magruder rose and 
awaited the visitor. A man presently stood under 
a swinging lantern, which shed through the hall 
the rather dim rays of a star candle. In this light 
the arrival was more impressive than prepossessing. 
A strong angular frame was surmounted by a 
countenance which, bloated with rage as it now ap- 
peared, conveyed the idea of a dangerous and for- 
midable beast. He was “ heavy set,” as one would 
say, with large bones. A big head, matted with 
coarse reddish hair, was remarkable for the great 
breadth between the ears. Animal and destructive 


WILD ROCK. 


3 


tendencies were strongly marked in the eyes which 
shone under bushy red brows, in the thick, long, 
close-fitted lips, and in the massive, iron-like jaws, 
which closed with the power of a vise. 

“ Ah, Captain Bludger, coom in, mon," said the 
hospitable old Scotchman. “Glad I am to see ye, 
an’ dinna ye mind Bracken. It’s a gude dog, an’ 
weel trained. I got him frae St. Johns. He’s 
smarter than human, mon. He’ll bark at ye, but 
his instinct is unerring, and he will never bite a 
gentleman. This is his nature. Ye need na’ fear. 
Captain. He will na’ bite a gentleman.” 

“ By St. George !” cried Bludger, “the brute has 
bitten me, sir; and I am more a gentleman than 
any beggarly McGregor in Scotland.” 

Robert, apparently not heeding this remark, 
looked sufficiently at the Captain’s wounded trou- 
sers to see that Bracken’s teeth had drawn no 
blood, and said quietly: 

“We are at tea. Walk in. Laura will be grati- 
fied to hear your news.” 

“Yes,” said Eustace, rising, as Bludger appeared 
in the door, “what can the scout captain tell us 
to-night ?” 

This allusion to a part of his past life which the 
Captain regarded as most creditable, did more to 
soothe his wounded honor than all the old Scotch- 
man’s assurances. In fact, Daniel Bludger smiled 


14 


PVILD ROCK. 


grimly, as he answered: “Black news, indeed, Mr. 
Eustace ; but perhaps gratifying to you. The 
negroes, headed by carpet-bag adventurers, have 
organized and intend to take the government of 
this country from the white race.” 

“Well, why not let them have it?” asked Eus- 
tace. 

“What!” cried the scout. “Give up this great 
valley to a race of slaves ! Surely, you are dream- 
ing, sir !” 

“ Better colonize them,” suggested Robert, “ and 
get another class of people.” 

“Give up our labor! Never, never!” cried 
Bludger. “ They shall remain. This country 
shall be ruled by the whites, and the black man 
shall be always what nature intended — a slave.” 

“Amalgamation is too unpopular to be possible, 
I suppose,” said Eustace, half inquiringly. 

“ By St. George, he will be a bold man who pro- 
poses such a thing,” cried Bludger. “We shall 
not people this country with mulattoes. A man’s 
life is not worth the purchase who breathes the 
idea.” 

“ Bairns,” said old Magruder, who, after taking 
his seat, had hitherto sat in seeming abstraction, 
“ ye ha’ touched a question on which the life o’ 
this countHe depends. These men who ha’ freed 
the blacks an’ these men who ha’ once owned them 


WILD ROCK. 


15 

will just abandon the problem thegither, and ye 
bairns will have to work it out. If ye fail, the ne- 
gro will remain here, an ever-growing cancer in the 
vitals of your prosperity, until at last he will pull 
down and destroy the superior race." 

“ By St. George, that," cried the scout, with 
flashing eyes, shall never be. This is a white 
man’s land. The Caucasian shall rule. We will 
force — " 

*‘But,” interrupted Eustace, “the government 
will prevent that." 

“ Then, by George!" cried Bludger, rising, “ I, 
for one, will go to the swamp, turn bandit, and — " 

“Be hanged!" The words came from behind 
old Magruder’s chair in a harsh, rasping voice; and 
next instant the scout was gazing at a hideous 
black dwarf, whose grinning head rose slowly 
above the old Scotchman’s. Great round white 
eyes and enormous spade-like teeth shone in the 
glossy black of a countenance whose flat nose and 
expressionless features looked but a dark lump. 

“What the devil is this!" exclaimed Bludger, 
starting, and involuntarily grasping his pistol. 

“ Haw! haw! haw!" laughed the grating voice 
of the dwarf, as he ambled off with a peculiar halt- 
ing trot, “haw! haw! haw!" And looking back 
from the door in a half-cunning, half-idiotic wa}^, 
he cried: “ 'Taint Devil, but Doc Cole; cos I’se 


i6 


WILD ROCK. 


black like cole, and I’se er docter. Haw! haw! 
haw! Dat’s sense!” and the negro, laughing fool- 
ishly, ambled away, chuckling and grating out, 
“ Dat’s sense! Haw! haw! Dat’s sense, boss; 
dat’s sense!” 

An awkward pause ensued; and then Wiley, 
ever ready, interrupted old Magruder’s half-uttered 
apology with the words: “ Come; what of the wa- 
ter party? We are neglecting Miss Laura.” 

water party!” cried the scout. “ By George, 
that reminds me of my errand. “ Miss Magruder,” 
turning to Laura, who bowed attention, “ if Rob- 
ert will come to my house and take the hounds, we 
will have a charming deer drive next Thursday. 
Will you go and see the sport ?” 

“If brother wishes,” answered Laura, looking 
timidly at young Magruder. 

“Let us to the parlor,” said Bob, “and arrange 
the hunt.” 

The party then arose and left the dining-room. 
Before they separated for the night, the river fete 
and the deer drive were both fully planned, and 
the Scout Captain had forgotten that Bracken ever 
bit a gentleman. 


WILD ROCK. 


7 


CHAPTER III. 

O, it’s a snug little island! 

A right little, tight little island!” 

The Snug Little Island. 

'"T^HE festal night was come. Out from the 
willows’ shadow into the moonlight on the 
river glided a graceful bateau. A silvery wake 
stretched across the yellow waves as the little 
boat sped onward, and in the dewy air floated 
a boatman’s song. Laura, reclining in the tiny 
shell, trailed her hand through the-water. 

How beautiful is night !” she sighed. “ This is 
like a fairy boat upon a fairy river.” 

Fairies made yon island,” answered Robert, 
looking at his sister, with a half-mocking, half- 
caressing smile. 

The girl heeded him not, but gazing still upon 
the waves, gently murmured: “The river’s jewels, 
methinks, are never sullied, for the waters sparkle 
behind us which fell like grated ice at Minnehaha.” 

“ Fairies ! All the work of fairies,” laughed her 
brother. “Why, I rernember boats sailing over 
the place where we dance to-night. A large 


i8 


WILD ROCK. 


Steamer strucic a snag there, and sank during a 
spring overflow. Driftwood caught in the chains 
•and upper works and formed a towhead. A vil- 
lage, which flourished where we now are, justified 
its name. Cave City, by tumbling into the water ; 
and the old River Genius, with his wonted econ- 
omy, built an island of the soil which he took 
from the town.” 

By St. George !” cried Daniel Bludger, who was 
sitting in the prow, “ some day the jurists will be 
puzzled to say whether the island belongs to the 
river god, the steamboat captain, or the mayor of 
the engulfed city.” 

A cloud obscured the moon. The paddle stopped, 
and the boat floated in silence. Across the water 
came these words : 

“Vedu lib, Marie. He come up out de ribber. 
Dat’s sense !” 

If the light had returned at this moment it 
would have disclosed an angry scowl on the pale 
face of the scout, and glances of amused curiosity 
passing between the sister and brother. But the 
darkness and the voice continued: “Water war 
lappin de lebby top one time, an’ de fields behind 
war green wid young corn an’ cotton. Dat night 
Wild Rock war sot ter watch de low place in de 
bank, and I war in de cabin wid Dan Bludger. 
Marie, dat night I seed Vedu !” 


WILD ROCK. 19 

“And what was the appearance of Vedoo?” 
asked a woman’s soft tones. 

The harsh voice continued: “He come like a big 
cock, high as a magnolia tree, steppin’ along 
t’ward de lebby, an’ pickin’ de ground. Ebbery 
time he peck he make a hole. I look, an’ dar war 
de Congo fast asleep on de ’bankment. I tried 
ter holler, but I couldn’t. An’ de big cock went 
right to de lebby, an’ picked an’ pecked ’till de 
water begin tricklin’ ober. Den, all at once, I 
screamed. Bludger jumped up, an’ run out. He 
seed Wild Rock sleepin’ — he seed it all ; an’ ’fore I 
could git dar, he put his pistol to de Congo’s ear 
an’ shot. Den I felt sumfrin snap in my head, an’ 
I nebber been right since. All night we worked ; 
but I knowed it wa’n’t no use. De break got big- 
ger an’ bigger ; an’ when mornin’ come, water war 
pouring ober de crops tro a crevass bigger ’n a 
town, an’ de Congo chief war gone.” 

When this charge was so singularly made against 
the scout, Laura drew back, shuddering, and 
Robert looked inquiringly toward him. But the 
darkness veiled these movements. Bludger re- 
mained silent, as if he had not heard the language, 
and Magruder, dipping his paddle into the water 
again, with a few vigorous strokes, pushed the ba- 
teau near the island. 

Foliage had rapidly covered this alluvial ground. 


20 


WILD ROCK, 


Pavilions were erected, and it was now fitted up 
with sylvan walks and grottos. To-night lanterns 
gleamed here and there among the trees, and fire- 
baskets, filled with pine -knots from the hills, 
burned at the landing-places. The little boat 
came down with the current, a rich flood of moon- 
light burst from behind the cloud, music floated 
out upon the river, mingled with the rippling 
laughter of women. It was an entrancing scene — 
the murmuring water, the many-twinkling island, 
the moonlit night, softly charming as a dark-eyed 
lady’s smile. 

A gentleman of patrician bearing and somewhat 
Jewish cast of features, stood at the landing-place 
which Laura’s boat approached. His cultured 
manner, iron-gray hair, and dark, steady eye, in- 
dicated the union of strength and talent which 
gives power to matured manhood. While grace- 
fully and with a light compliment, assisting Laura 
from the bateau, he made a secret and peculiar sign 
which Bludger alone understood. These three, 
laughing and talking, walked toward a brilliant 
pavilion, where music and dancing were in prog- 
ress. Robert was left to fasten the boat and 
follow. After he finished the mooring, however, 
he stood a moment looking at the scene ; then 
lighting a cigar, he strolled along the shore. 

Walking by the softly gliding water, breathing 


WILD ROCK. 


21 


the flower-scented air, Magruder was soothed by 
the silent night, the waning hum of voices, and the 
distant receding music. Regardless of his course, 
he rambled on, thinking of rich Percy Cecil, the 
man of influence, who had just carried Laura away 
with the calm grace that ever marked his de- 
meanor. Was this man the creator or the product 
of success ? Then he thought of Cecil’s daughter, 
pretty, gray-eyed Bessie ; and might have thought 
much more, but at this moment a rustle was 
heard, and a lovely sight greeted his eyes. 

Just where the moonbeams fell through arching 
vines appeared a creature so rarely beautiful that 
Robert feared to breathe lest the vision should 
vanish. Her tapering finger raised as if in doubt, 
she stood inclining forward in her leafy bower. A 
white silk gown was fastened with a golden cord 
about her slender waist ; waving masses of nut- 
brown hair half hid her graceful form, and like a 
wild melody was the dark beauty of her face. 

Robert paused in wonder. “Fairy being,” he 
said, advancing, “can I aid you in aught?” 

She drew a little backward. Her lips half parted 
like an opening rosebud inlaid with pearls. “Yes !” 
she answered ; “ tell me why Colonel Magruder 
has wandered from his friends.” 

“To greet the Queen of Beauty in her bower,” 
answered Robert, gazing like a votary at his shrine. 


22 


WILD ROCK. 


‘‘As little queen as beauty !” the lady said, half 
sadly. She slowly sank upon a rustic seat, a hand 
like alabaster played with the masses of her hair, 
and a little arching kid-booted foot peeped shyly 
from her corded skirt. 

“You are a queen, most lovely one,” cried 
Magruder, passionately ; “ and Robert owns alle- 
giance to your scepter.” 

Love laughed a moment in the changeful depths 
of the lady’s great almond-shaped eyes ; then sad- 
ness shadowed them, and she sighed : “You know 
not my taste — my ideal ; not even my name !” 

“ What matter’s thy name, sweet woman !” said 
Robert, leaning over her reclining form. “ Only 
tell me how can I gain thy favor?” 

“ One only lives, and he in history,” said the 
lady, rising, with a proud light in those wondrous 
eyes, “ whose character is worthy the adoration of 
a woman.” 

“ Who is this ? The name — the name ?” cried 
young Magruder, pressing eagerly toward the lady, 
who drew slowly away. 

“ The name !” cried she, turning and looking 
back, her lips half open, and merriment dancing in 
her eyes. “The name, ha! ha! is — Moses!” And, 
with another peal of silvery laughter, she dis- 
appeared in the darkness. A moment Robert was 
stupefied— then he pursued. Twice he fancied he 


WILD ROCK. 


23 


saw the white skirt disappearing around a bush. 
Once he was sure he heard the rustle of the silk 
and detected the perfume shed from the fair one’s 
hair. But at the end of half an hour he abandoned 
the chase as hopeless, and went to the large pavil- 
ion. Here he stood watching the dancers, expect- 
ing to see among them the mysterious lady of the 
bower. Finding Bludger, who, returning from the 
supper pavilion, stood near him, presently he 
asked : 

“ What about Moses is it. Captain, that women 
like ?” ■ 

The scout looked at him quizzically for a moment, 
and replied : “ His prohibition against converting 
their golden ornaments into calves !” 

They were separated by the dancers at this in- 
stant ; and fortunately, for Colonel Robert Ma- 
gruder would otherwise have been guilty of 
an indiscretion. His thoughts were immedi- 
ately diverted, however, to Wiley Eustace, who 
was leading Laura from the dance to a seat near 
an open window. Robert followed, to rescue 
them, if possible, from danger, in the person of 
Mrs. John Frogg. 

This good woman was a lady of reading and 
character. She was a large lady, with sharp, ferrety 
eyes, and a hooked nose, and when she walked she 
waddled. Mrs. Frogg was a woman with views, 


24 


WILD ROCK. 


which, like her reading, were derived chiefly from 
the patent outside of her husband’s newspaper. So 
her views and her quotations were generally 
stereotyped. The good lady’s trouble in life was 
lack of an audience ; and she was accustomed to 
supply this want by lying in ambush near an 
open window at parties and capturing the un- 
wary. Bob saw Wiley’s danger, and made a gal- 
lant charge to bring him off in safety ; but it failed. 

Standing near the river, looking out in the 
moonlight on the semi-tropical scenes, Eustace 
said : “ What a glorious night ! Italy, with all its 
beauties, does not surpass this favored land. No 
where does a river so majestic flow through so 
rich a country. Surely, Miss Laura, the time is 
near when large ships will discharge cargoes on the 
levees, and great cities will flourish in this valley.” 

“ True ! So true !” exclaimed Madam Frogg, in- 
serting her beak before Laura could reply. “ ‘ A 
thing of beauty is a joy for ever,’ as we of the aun- 
cion regame wer wont to say. By my hallidome, 
we have great cities now. There, for instance, sits 
Saun Lewy.” 

Robert was in despair ; but pretty Bessie Cecil,' 
who, with a tactician’s eye, saw the state of thie en- 
gagement, now advanced, and asked, with the ut- 
most innocence of manner : “Mrs. Frogg, what is 
your hallidome ?” 


WILD ROCK. 


25 


*‘Yaw, haw, haw, yaw !” indignantly screamed 
the good lady, through her beak ; and rising she 
waddled majestically to another window. The 
victory was complete, and after Bessie always said 
that “Yaw, haw, haw, yaw,” was Mrs. Frogg’s 
hallidome. 

Magruder turned to Bessie to express his grati- 
tude, but he was surprised to discover that the en- 
thusiasm with which he thought of her earlier in 
the evening had been supplanted by a stronger 
feeling for the beautiful bower-woman. Happily 
Cecil’s pretty daughter was not aware of this. Her 
father approaching, they jointly invited the party 
at the window to breakfast with them after the 
hunt. This was more than Mrs. Frogg could 
stand. So returning from her place of retreat, she 
accepted the invitation for herself. Cecil smiled 
and bowed and, even as he did so, made the pecul- 
iar sign to another iron-gray man across the hall. 
Cecil was always guarded and self-possessed — a 
thorough gentleman. 

Soon after the boats were on the river again, 
diverging from the island to the homes of the 
different merrymakers. But even here — as his 
well-manned barge passed one bateau after 
another — the polished iron-gray gentleman, Percy 
Cecil, would make to one and another middle-aged 
man his secret, peculiar sign. 


26 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER IV. 


“ On a dark summer night, ’way down in the bogs, 

How plainly is heard the croak of the frogs! 

Mammy Frog keeps exclaiming, ‘ Knee deep and no deeper,^ 
In order to warn any indiscreet leaper; 

While from old Daddy Frog comes the deep croaking sound,, 
‘ Don’t you tumble in here; you had better go ’round.’ ” 


The Frogs, 


HE morning after the island fete, Eustace, as- 



in courtesy bound, called at Magruder’s resi- 
dence, to inquire after Laura’s health; and Blud- 
ger called, regardless of the lady and courtesy, ta 
discuss the coming deer drive. They were in the 
parlor with Miss Magruder, awaiting Robert’s return 
from a field, whither he went earlier to start the 
cotton-pickers. The residence consisted of eight 
rooms — two either side of a large hall on both 
floors. A broad gallery extended along its front 
and was covered by a roof, which, beginning at the 
eaves, was supported by six posts made of as many 
pine trees, polished like ship-masts. 

The front room on the left of the lower hall was 
called the parlor. India matting covered the floor. 
Windows, protected without by green shutters. 


WILD ROCK. 


27 


concealed their small defective glasses behind 
paper shades, which in turn were hid by muslin 
curtains. High-backed, stiff furniture of another 
generation afforded seats for the guests. On a 
centre-table stood an elaborate bronze lamp, with 
the family Bible, Shakespeare, and some books 
of travel. Plastered walls, white-washed, were 
adorned with photographs of friends and Southern 
notables, and over the high wooden mantel was a 
portrait of Calhoun. Two big brazen fire-dogs 
guarded the broad opening into the chimney, which 
was surrounded by a polished brass-wire fender. 

Old Magruder, tablets in hand, was seated on the 
gallery near one of the parlor windows, with 
Bracken lying near his chair, and Doc Cole was in 
the yard under a fine old oak, vainly attempting 
the impossible feat of balancing his awkwardness 
on a toe. 

“Dook!” said the old man. Doc desisted from 
his effort, and looked inquiringly at the speaker. 

“ It gars me greet, mon, to see ye sa lazy. Ye 
maun do somewhat. I can ha’ no sarvent but 
Dinah, the cook, noo; an ye maun larn to work. I 
wi’ na longer feed and clothe ye in idleness.” 

“ Boss,” said Doc, with an air of profound con- 
viction, “dat’s sense!” 

“ Mak a crop, mon, next year — can’t ye, noo?” 

Cole shut one eye, and gazed meditatively at a 


28 


WILD ROCK. 


cloud which then obscured the sun. Presently he 
said: Sartin, Boss, but whar de land?” 

‘‘.Tak some o’ mine, ye loon; an’ ye can get a 
mule—” 

“ Whar, Boss ?” 

Buy one,” cried the old man, impatiently, ris- 
ing from his seat. “Where else do ye expect to 
get a mule ?” 

“ Boss,” said Doc, after a thoughtful pause, “ De 
mule better be frowd in.” 

Old Magruder looked at Cole indignantly, and 
Cole gazed placidly at the cloud. 

“ Boss,” he suddenly asked, “ Whar de corn?” 

“ If I gie ye the corn an’ mule,” asked the old 
man, “can ye mak the crop?” 

Doc meditated for a long time. After a while he 
approached the gallery counting on his fingers. 
“ Boss,” said he, “ if yer frows in de clus an’ de 
meat, too, b’lieve Doc mout pull fru!” 

“Ye wretch!” exclaimed the old Scotchman, 
closing his tablets. 

What might have been the result of this impor- 
tant negotiation will never be known, for Laura 
appeared now on the gallery with her visitors, and 
seeing the state of affairs she hastened Cole away. 

“Come here. Doc!” she called; and as he 
shuffled towards her, she said to the guests, as if 
continuing a conversation: “ Interest them in their 


WILD ROCK. 


29 


leaseholds by improving the places and giving 
them attractive names — this is our method." 

“ Now, Cole," she added, “conduct these gentle- 
men by the Serpentine path and show them Retire- 
ment, your pretty home." 

Doc’s big mouth opened and disclosed those 
great white teeth: “Haw! haw! haw! Dat’s 
sense!" And beckoning to the scout and Eustace, 
he shuffled off, saying: “ Come on, genlmn! Dis a 
way! Right down de turpentine walk ter torment 
— Dis a way!” 

Ten minutes’ walk by a winding path along the 
ridge dotted with pine saplings where the primi- 
tive growth was cut away, carried them to a small 
clearing in the forest. A cabin built of rough logs 
had once been adorned with a brick chimney and 
a plank shutter to its single window, and undressed 
plank had been nailed over the cracks, but Doc, 
who was strictly utilitarian in taste, had adapted 
the bricks of the chimney to the construction of a 
small furnace for boiling, and used the shutter and 
planks as fire-wood. Evidently he was now util- 
izing the airy remainder of the residence, for out 
of the hole where once hung the shutter, the head 
of an animal protruded. Its neck was long and 
bony, its mane filled with burs; its ears were 
cropped, and its romanesque nose was flanked by 
eyes glistening like big, light-colored glass marbles. 


30 


WILD ROCK. 


The visitors were inclined to regard this apparition 
as an ugly black mustang pony; but Doc quickly 
dispelled their illusion. 

“ Dar, genlmn,” he said, proudly, “ is Torment, 
an’ dat is Belzebub!” 

“Certainly, he is the bite noir T murmured Eus- 
tace, as he compassed at a glance the scene. 

Doctor Cole looked at the speaker with an in- 
jured air, and shuffled into the cabin. Abandoned 
thus abruptly by their guide, the gentlemen were 
in doubt how to proceed, when the tramp of a 
horse was followed by Robert, who emerged from 
the forest on his handsome bay. 

The young man was annoyed by this exhibition 
of the result of Laura’s method, and he carried his 
visitors a short circuit by some better tenant- 
houses, and then led them back to the residence, 
where they found old Magruder seated on the gal- 
ler)% busily studying his tablets. He did not ob- 
serve their approach; but looking into the parlor 
window, he said, “ Send out the bairns, Annie 
Laurie.” 

“Why, father!” replied the girl’s voice, “they 
passed you an hour since going to the place.” 

“Ah! yes,” said the old Scotchman, hastily turn- 
ing his tablets. “I ken, I ken.” 

“ Here we are, back again,” said Eustace; and 
inclining his handsome head to Laura, who ap- 


WILD ROCK. 


31 


peared at the window, he added: “We are charmed 
with the cottages of the tenants." 

“Coom up, young men; coom up on the gallery. 
Laurie, bring chairs," said the old man; “I ha’ 
somewhat, bairns," he added, as they ascended the 
steps, “somewhat to discourse upon to ye." 

Eustace hastened to assist Laura with the chairs. 
Robert took one from her, as she came out, and 
Bludger, smiling grimly at being classed with the 
bairns, sat on the steps, with his back against a 
post, and remarked superciliously: “Go ahead 
then with the discourse." 

When all were seated, the old man opened his 
tablets; and referring to the memoranda occasion- 
ally, he said: “Not many months will I be wi’ ye, 
lads. My head is blossoming for the tomb. This 
day I mean to tell ye what an ould mon thinks o’ 
the grave matter o’ the negro — ’’ 

“ Let us alone, old gentleman," interrupted Blud- 
ger, impatiently, “ and we will manage him. Intelli- 
gence and courage will always outweigh numbers." 

“ Hardly at the ballot box," apologetically sug- 
gested Eustace. 

“Yes, sir, there!" cried Bludger, rising, and 
standing upon the gallery. “By George! A 
thousand negro votes shall not overcome mine!" 

“ How will you avoid that result ?’’ asked Mr. 
Eustace, still seated, and with a quiet smile. 


32 


WILD ROCK. 


Bludger’s eyes flashed, and he began: “By a 
method — ” Then checking himself, he turned, 
and sat down again near the post, remarking: “We 
have a method, sir — a method.” 

“Your methods I know not, Dan Bludger,” said 
old Magruder; “ but this ye may weel consider 
— no method, which interferes with the free exer- 
cise of citizens’ rights, can be ultimately success- 
ful.” 

“Of course not,” said Eustace. “A people’s 
government ceases to exist when a majority of the 
people are deprived of the right to govern. If, for 
instance, the rulers are chosen by a minority, then 
we have no longer a democracy, but an oligarchy 
— a republic, you may style the thing, but there is 
no freedom — it is another Venice.” 

“Understand,” cried Bludger, turning fiercely 
upon Eustace, “your negro citizens I do not recog- 
nize. We have ceased to own the individuals, but 
we have a property in the race. The Caucasian is 
the only citizen.” 

“But your position,” said Wiley, decidedly, 
“conflicts with the constitutions — National and 
State — and the entire body of statutory law. 
Every election conducted on that basis is a public 
crime, and all your coadjutors are outlaws.” 

“ Out with the constitution and statutes !” cried 
Bludger; “who made them? Men! Sir, there 


WILD ROCK, 


33 


is a higher law — the law of self-preservation, of 
race, of nature !” 

‘‘Such is the right of revolution,” replied Eus- 
tace, “but I do not understand that to be the ob- 
ject or end of your method. Government, how- 
ever, cannot stand if its foundations are shaken 
every time a constable is chosen. Destroy society, 
introduce a condition of anarchy, and the brute 
force of numbers will soon demolish your superior 
education and prestige, which you style courage. 
Would you preserve government for your ends, 
and yet violate its cardinal precepts at each elec- 
tion ? This cannot long succeed. Each year you 
will educate a class of ruffians — train them in vio- 
lence and fraud and disregard of the claims of law 
— until, some day, your tools will be your masters. 
Understanding your method, they will work it for 
their aggrandizement and your overthrow.” 

“How long,” asked Bludger, with a sneer, “has 
England ruled India ? The inferior races, sir, are 
incapable of self-government. As to our tools — 
ha ! ha ! ha ! — when they grow too sharp we can 
break them !” 

Robert, who stood during this conversation 
silently observant, looked curiously at Bludger, 
when he uttered this sentiment. 

“What!” exclaimed Wiley, “destroy your own 
agents ?” 


34 


WILD DOCK. 


‘‘Of course,” replied Bludger, picking. his teeth 
with his knife-blade, “when they are guilty of 
treason to the cause.” 

“And do you call this a republic, Mr. Bludger, 
a government by the people and for the peo- 
ple ?” 

“ Manifestly, yes !” said Bludger. “ A govern- 
ment by the white people and for them. I do not 
recognize your black citizens.” 

“Dan Bludger,” said old Magruder, rousing 
himself from seeming abstraction, “the negro is 
free, and a voter. Something must be done with 
him in this character.” He paused in deep 
thought. Then a bright, kindly look came over 
the old man’s face. “ Coom now, bairns,” added 
he smiling, “let us gie them ane trial. Let us 
treat them kindly, bairns, and like white men, and 
see if they ha’ not the sense o’ ither folk. It is na’ 
gude to scare an’ cheat the creatures. Let us 
make men and women of them. Coom, we will gie 
them a big barbecue the day after they help us 
to elect our men.” 

“Kill the fatted calf,” laughed Bludger, “for the 
election will be gained.” 

“Do you think so, Bludger !” asked the guileless 
old man, with a boy’s enthusiasm. 

“As certainly,” cried the Scout, still laughing 
aloud, “as Cole is bringing my big sorrel, yonder. 


WILD ROCK. 35 

And now, good-day, I must be off. Come, Robert, 
let’s arrange that hunt !” 

Eustace also took leave, and Robert went after 
him. Following the ridge-road to its junction 
with the causeway, the three riders separated. 
Robert, from a feeling which he did not express, 
accompanied Eustace along the northern end 
toward the county town, where the latter was 
practising law. Bludger, going over the course 
which the young men came the evening we first 
saw them, reached the river, and riding a short 
distance up the levee, stopped at the Empire City. 

Did you ever, gentle reader, see a mud-scow 
surmounted by a freight box-car ? If yea, imagine 
scrawled in great letters upon one end of the box, 
the words, Big Black Crow,” on the other “ Big 
Black Bar,” moor your fancy by a tow-line to a stum 
at the levee just below the mouth of the Big Black 
Bayou, and you have the exterior of the Empire 
City. Like London between Ludgate Circus and 
Blackfriar bridge, it was a two-story city. Above 
was the department of grain, hay, heavy groceries 
and bread-stuffs. The lower section of the metrop- 
olis was devoted to dry goods, general merchan- 
dise and notions ; and the inhabitants resided in 
the stern. Immediately north of the residences 
was a section of the city devoted to printing, and 
in the prow, which was called the “Northern Lib- 


36 


WILD ROCK. 


erties,” reposed the “Big Black Bar.” Here at 
eventide, the male citizen was wont to dispense 
tobacco and questionable liquor, but the bar’s glit- 
tering attractions were now discreetly veiled with 
strips of Kentucky bagging. The printing section, 
however, was in full work. 

On the end of an empty beer-keg, clutching a 
newspaper, blank upon one side, squatted the male 
inhabitant. Near him was a font of type and a 
hand-press. The citizen’s head was flat, his mouth 
protruded and he was continually swallowing his 
chin ; his rough -skinned, splotched face was 
adorned with two holes where a nose usually 
appears, his protruding paunch was large, and his 
little limber legs kept bending and jerking with 
the superincumbent weight, until the beholder ex- 
pected to hear a ketchug and see him disappear, 
heels hindermost, into the river. This, gentle 
reader, was Frogg — John Frogg, editor of the 
Big Black Crow. By his side stood Madam Frogg, 
owner of the Empire City. One of the little man’s 
small red eyes was fastened on the printed side of 
the paper, and the other, wandering restlessly 
over the array of goods, settled upon a crack in 
the floor under which the water was seen, and 
rested there as if he meditated leaping through. 

“Veda, great Veda!” squeaked Madam Frogg, 
reading over his shoulder something on the 


WILD ROCK. 37 

patent-outside, “work of India's mighty Brah- 
ma!” 

“Wonderful are thy secrets, O Veda! knowl- 
edge of knowledge,” wheezed the little man, con- 
tinuing to read the advertisement. 

“Innumerable the benefits which thou hast con- 
ferred on man. Child of Light ! Bright Son of the 
Morning !” continued his wife’s falsetto. 

“But none better than that cure for every ill,” 
wheezed the little man’s bass, “ Docther Snap- 
short’s Sthomack Sthormer.” 

“Hallo! Frogg,” cried Bludger, whose heavy 
form now darkened the door, “are you practising 
for an operatic exhibition ?” 

“Be gorrah, no!” wheezed Frogg, leaping down 
with the paper, “ The top o’ the mornin’ to ye ! 
We were only admiring the bootiful new ad. 
See now, will ye !” and he held up before Blud- 
ger’s face the paper, disclosing a picture of Hin- 
doos gathering herbs under the guidance of 
Brahma. 

A sour smile crossed the scout’s hard features. 
“Frogg,” said he solemnly, “the Crow must attack 
the Vedoo !” 

“ Fight the Son of the Morning ?” cried Mrs. 
Frogg in horror. “Abuse the Child of Light — oh ! 
Froggie, never !”- 

“An lose the bootiful new pictur’ and Schnap- 


38 


WILD ROCK. 


short’s fifty for the ad,” wheezed the little man, 
completely swallowing his chin, and growing very 
red, “ niver, niver, niver !” 

“Ordered by the ten !” muttered the scout, just 
loud enough for the man to hear, and made the 
peculiar sign ; then he turned to Madam Frogg, 
and asked her about a boat passing up the river. 

The effect on the little editor was miraculous. 
He turned pale, his limber knees bent outward 
until he nearly sat on the floor ; then wriggling 
up, he approached Bludger, and pulled his sleeve. 
“This way, good Captain,” he wheezed, leading 
toward the bar, “come an’ try a leetle sthomack 
sthormer.” 

“By George! I never drink slops,” said Bludger, 
stopping. 

“ Oh ! Froggie, darling,” said the good lady, who 
was watching this scene, “ let us make the Captain a 
julep with some o’ that fine old brandy. It is all 
but ready now,” and she began to prepare the 
beverage. 

“That’s better,” cried the scout laughing, “and 
now,” he added, further softening as she handed 
him the drink, “you need not give up your adver- 
tisement, Frogg.” 

“ How, indade ?” asked the little editor, with a 
puzzled look. The scout smiled, and drained his 
glass. 


WILD ROCK. 


39 


‘•Insert these paragraphs,” said the Captain, 
handing him some manuscripts, “ they relate to a 
superstition gaining some ground with the ne- 
groes, but as far in origin from your Veda, not- 
withstanding the similarity of name, as Loango is 
from Calcutta.” 

“ Oh ! you’re a jewel,” said Madam Frogg to the 
scout, who, laughingly bade them good-day. 

The amphibious couple, left alone, proceeded to 
make up the paper. The outside was stereotyped 
to order, but the inside demanded care. First they 
set up a new and original story, called “Grim 
John, the Blear-eyed Bandit,” copied out of a book 
of original stories that Mrs. Frogg inherited from 
her grandmother. Then they inserted a list of ad- 
vertised letters in the post-office, to wit, two ; and 
a short list of names under this inscription : “The 
Crow thanks the following for cash favors.” A 
column under the heading, “ Honorable mention 
by Neighboring Journals of Repute,” contained 
commendations of the Crow by the Turkey Creek 
Gobbler, and the Spider Bayou Stigeree. The 
remaining available space was filled with Bludger’s 
paragraphs, interspersed with such new and start- 
ling sentiments as these: “Is Philip dead.? No, 
but he is sick.” “Letup, boys; the Doctor says 
he’ll die.” “Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of 
war !” “ Saddle White Surrey for the Field.” 


40 


WILD ROCK. 


Shake not thy gory locks at me.’* “There’s 
music in the air !” The Crow was famous for 
these stirring paragraphs — they were Frogg’s cam- 
paign cries. No reader ever had an idea what they 
meant. But in this particular issue, taken in con- 
nection with Bludger’s Vedoo warnings, they pro- 
duced among the small circle of subscribers an 
unpleasant impression that the devil was about 
to break loose, and there was no telling in what 
direction he would come. 


WILD ROCK. 


41 


CHAPTER V. 

“ Morn, 

Waked by the circling hours, with rosy hand 
Unbarred the gates of light.” 

Paradise Lost. 

R OSY-FINGERED morn was gilding the East- 
ern sky, but darkness lingered under the great 
oaks which guarded Laura’s home. The lady slept. 
Her head rested on a rounded arm half covered by 
her tangled tresses. Dewy air, laden with the fresh- 
ness of dawn, floated through the window and 
kissed her parted lips. The lady smiled. A 
mocking-bird on an oak bough trilled a melody to 
coming day; and Laura woke. Far off in the 
forest she heard the music of the hounds ; under 
the oaks a hunter’s horn was sounded, and, start- 
ing from her couch, she hastened her toilet, to join 
the hunting-train. 

Soon Laura, with her brother, was riding along 
a winding path through the woods, to meet the 
approaching pack. John Frogg was stationed at 
this crossing. He had often stood here before, 
and complained that he never saw a stag; but as 


42 


WILD ROCK. 


the noise of the dogs came nearer now, he was 
startled by the unexpected, and hoped in his 
heart that the deer would change its course. He 
heard a bounding thud, the dry branches cracked, 
a shiver ran through his limbs, and an antlered 
buck leaped into the road, gazed at him a moment 
and disappeared. 

“Ugh!” exclaimed Frogg, “too fast! If I just 
had another chance !” 

As he spoke, a little doe trotted into the open- 
ing, stopped and looked at him wonderingly with 
her soft, pleading eyes. The chorus of approach- 
ing dogs startled the gentle animal, and putting 
back her delicate ears she walked into the forest, 
A moment later, the editor aimed his shot-gun at 
the place she had left and discharged both barrels. 
The deafening report echoed and re-echoed 
through the swamp, and before it died away the 
trampling horses were heard in all directions 
bringing the other hunters to congratulate him. 

“Hello! Frogg,” cried Bludger who rode up 
first on his strong sorrel, “where’s the game?” 

The little man made no reply ; but Robert, who 
now brought his sister to the scene, listened to the 
receding music of the pack, and said ; “ The deer 
runs fast — evidently untouched.” 

“Won’t it come back again?” asked Bessie, who 
rode up with Eustace and her father, “ I should so 


WILD ROCK. 43 

like to see a wild deer running through the 
woods !” 

Robert forgot the island lady as he gazed on 
Bessie’s flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. 

“By St. George! young lady,” cried Bludger 
with his hoarse laugh, “you should see that one 
then, for it’s running like the wind. But no deer 
will come to this place again until the tribe for- 
gets the tradition of Frogg’s bombardment.” 

Putting to his mouth a carved hunting horn 
which hung at his side, the scout sounded the 
dogs’ recall. Led by Cecil the party now moved 
toward his residence. Every few rods, the Cap- 
tain sounded his musical recall, until they entered 
the causeway a half mile from their destination 
with the noisy pack yelping and leaping about 
their horses’ legs. 

The cavalcade, turning from the causeway into 
an avenue arched with water-oaks, stopped pres- 
ently before a handsome gate. Men-servants were 
waiting to take their horses. Through well-kept 
grounds, Cecil escorted his guests to the entrance 
of his beautiful residence. Quadroon maids con- 
ducted the ladies to their rooms, where they found 
dresses, brought in the carriages destined to con- 
vey them home. Small cups of black coffee were 
served ; and the visitors were notified that break- 
fast awaited their pleasure in the latticed room. 


44 


WILD ROCK. 


Half an hour later, Bessie, simply arrayed in a 
morning robe, with a single white rosebud in her 
hair, presided, at a table ornamented with floral 
designs, over a repast of fruits and cantaloupe 
melons, deftly serving the Hyson tea and pale 
Pedang coffee. Cecil, seated as one of the guests, 
in his charmingly graceful manner gave life with- 
out leading the conversation ; and his occasional 
unobserved glances led the well-trained waiters to 
stimulate faltering gourmands with light break- 
fast wines. In a short time these things were 
removed, and then kingfish and Spanish mackerel 
were succeeded by broiled quails, and these by 
steaks of veal and venison, accompanied by the 
breads and cakes and waffles for which the South 
is famous. The company afterward rising betook 
them to the garden, where among rare plants they 
reposed on wicker-work settees, and ate ices — 
orange, lemon and vanilla — grateful in the grow- 
ing warmth of the day. 

“To-morrow night, the season closes at Kooper’s 
Well,” said Bessie to Robert, who was handing her 
an ice, “and next day they are to have ever so 
much amusement.” 

“Indeed !” said he, “and are you going?” 

“Yes,” said Laura, who was passing, “Bessie 
and I are going in our carriage, and you are to 
ride as escort.” 


WILD ROCK, 


45 


And I ?” asked Eustace. 

“ Oh ! you may go along with brother, if you 
are good,” laughed Laura, going to a hammock, 
and beginning to swing. 

She was very pretty lying in the hammock, 
robed in white muslin and pink scarf. Eustace 
sat by her side. When the ices were removed, each 
guest was handed a japanned tray, on which was 
a tiny glass set — a cup, a pitcher of Mocha, a flask 
of old French brandy and a bowl containing a few 
lumps of sugar. Laura sipped the coffee. The 
others, mixing the ingredients to their tastes, 
varied the compound from the Roman potation of 
Madam Frogg to the CafI a la Fran^aise of pretty 
Bessie Cecil. 

Looking through an open window into the 
tasteful library where hung a fine painting of the 
cave scene in “ Cymbeline,” Laura said : “ It seems 
incredible that one mind could produce all that 
Shakespeare wrote. He must owe much to his 
contemporaries.” 

“ And much doubtless,” said Eustace “ to suc- 
cessive editors, for — ” 

“Oh! yes,” interrupted Madam Frogg, “most 
folks owe successful editors. But I often tell 
Froggie darling to cheer up, ‘ there’s music in the 
air,’ and — ” 

“By George! Cecil,” cried Bludger loudly, look- 


46 


WILD ROCK. 


ing at Laura and Eustace, who were now convers- 
ing in low tones, “ how much more is there of 
this tomfoolery ?” 

Eustace looked up surprised; but Cecil smiling 
blandly stepped before him, facing the scout, and 
gently remarked : “ Ah ! my self-made Daniel, 

why will you ever humble us by showing how you 
have risen from the state of an ox-cart man to be 
an ox-driver still ?” 

Bludger’s harsh face grew purple with rage, 
but before he could speak, Cecil, gracefully 
waving his hand, touched a silver bell. A quad- 
roon boy appeared, dressed like a little sailor. 

“ Paccolett,” said Cecil, horses for the guests.” 

The boy ran into the house ; and at this signal 
the visitors prepared to leave. When they 
reached the gate at the avenue, the gentlemen’s 
horses, fed and groomed, were there, held by the 
negroes who took them at arriving. The ladies 
entered the carriages, the gentlemen mounted, and 
like the links of a broken chain the morning’s 
company fell apart. 

Eustace, who had observed John Frogg’s silence 
during the breakfast, allowed young Magruder to 
ride by the carriage and entertain Laura and Mrs. 
Frogg, while he remained behind to cheer the am- 
phibious editor. This worthy was moodily regard- 
ing his great gun, which he carried across the pom- 


WILD ROCK. 


47 


mel of his saddle, and apparently was little enli- 
vened by the efforts of Wiley. Near the place where 
the ridge road branched off, this gentleman galloped 
to the front, and calling Robert, said : “ Frogg is in 
the dumps about his shooting exploit. Bob, and if 
you take him through the woods he may kill a 
squirrel and regain his spirits — Mrs. Frogg — ah ! 
7— can be escorted by me.” 

Magruder looked at Eustace with a smile. 
^‘Take the greatest care of Madam Frogg,” he 
said and, reining back his horse, joined the editor. 
Shortly after, they turned into a bridle-path lead- 
ing through the swamp toward the river. In the 
densest part of the tangled undergrowth Magruder 
dismounted, and Frogg, at his bidding, ruefully 
followed his example. ^ 

“Now, sir,” said the young man, suiting his ac- 
tions to the words, “ I tie your horse’s bridle to the 
crupper of Mameluke, put them in the path, and 
say, ‘Go!’” The bay galloped off at the word, 
leading Frogg’s hack. Seeing his companion’s 
consternation, Robert said: “They will come up 
safely at our gate.” 

“Yis, be jabers!” wheezed the little editor, 
struggling with his huge gun and cartridge-box, 
“but where will we come up?” 

“Oh! here is the bayou,” laughed Robert, point- 
ing to a sluggish stream which moved between 


48 


WILD ROCK. 


high banks, covered with tangled vines and over- 
hanging trees; and, parting the bushes, he dis- 
closed a path leading down to the water where two 
boats were moored. 

“Now, Frogg,” he said, “load your columbiad, 
and put it into the larger boat. Point over the 
stern. There! That will do. Now help me to 
disguise the boats with green boughs. Fact is, 
Frogg, we are going to float down to the salt-lick 
— and if you are fortunate we will get a buck.” 

“ Observe, however,” he added, as they stuck the 
last green limb into the boats, and his critical eye 
pronounced both ready for action, “ observe, Frogg, 
that I lead, in the ‘ Bessie,’ and you with the 
‘Terror’ bring up the rear.” 

While speaking, the young man lay prone under 
the leaves in his trim little bateau, and pushed 
out with his hand into the stream. But the 
editor’s Irish blood was up. He had no inclina- 
tion for the rear, and shoving his big dug-out 
ahead of the Bessie, he wheezed: “Let Terror 
lade in this glowrious warr!” 

Robert, under his canopy, saw the editor’s big 
gun now pointing straight at his head. “ Frogg!” 
said he, “ in part of my instructions, I was some- 
what hasty. Change your cannon to the prow, 
and, the moment you see a deer dining shoot be- 
hind its shoulder.” 


WILD ROCK. 


49 


The Irishman shifted his ordnance, and the boats 
passed down the bayou like small floating islands. 
Presently a dry stick snapped on the bank, a 
trampling followed, and they rounded a sharp bend, 
into the very midst of a herd of deer. An eddy at 
this moment caught the Terror, and it careened. 
The editor eagerly raised his great shot-gun to his 
shoulder, leaned back over the boat’s side, and, 
as usual, fired both barrels. When the smoke 
cleared away, the deer were gone — and so was 
Frogg! 

The Terror was lodged in the bushes bottom up- 
ward, and its late occupant — or the visible part of 
him, which was all above the chin — was sputtering 
in the ooze like a small geyser. 

As the Bessie floated by, Robert was relieved to 
see the editor gain the bank, gun and cartridge- 
box in hand. Telling him to follow the stream, 
and in ten minutes he would reach the Empire 
City, the young man took a paddle from the bottom 
of his boat, and began shoving it down the stream. 
His intention was to visit the cotton-pickers, but he 
was destined to meet an adventure before reaching 
the field. 

Just as his green-dressed bateau floated from 
the bayou’s mouth, he saw in the river before him 
a little bark canoe, so light and airy, that it barely 
touched the water. In this, gazing curiously at his 


50 


WILD ROCK. 


craft, was the beautiful island lady. She stood as 
gracefully as a fawn, her paddle suspended, her 
breast heaving, her wondrous eyes scanning the 
approaching object, as if ready for instant 
flight. 

Magruder saw her alarm, and, divining its cause, 
stripped off the green boughs and threw them into 
the river. Then the girl’s rippling laugh floated 
over the water, and laying her paddle in the boat, 
she awaited his approach. 

“ Sir Hunter,” laughed the girl, as the young 
man’s boat neared hers, looking mischievously into 
its emptiness, “What have you done with your 
game ?” 

“Why, fair lady, call me a hunter?” asked 
Robert, who cared not to assume in this handsome 
woman’s eyes the glory of Frogg’s exploit. 

“Sir Shooter, then,” said the girl; “ for surely I 
heard a gun, and you have no companion.” 

“Ah! there he comes, poor man!” she added, 
laughing, and shading her eyes with one of those 
white tapering hands, “Why did you try, to drown 
him in the ooze ?” 

Magruder looked in the direction indicated by 
her eyes, and there, sure enough, was poor Frogg 
looking like a mud baby, and struggling through 
the willows by the river with his cartridge-box and 
gun. 


WILD ROCK. 


51 


Oh! you wicked man,” she laughed, “to desert 
your comrade in misfortune! You will never be a 
Moses! But,” she added, “he must not see me!” 
and with a dexterous sweep of the paddle she shot 
her light canoe behind the point of land above 
the bayou. 

Robert paddled the Bessie after her boat. 
“ Beautiful creature,” said he, “ will you tell me 
how I can be a Moses ?” 

A moment the lady looked earnestly into his 
face, then her great eyes beamed with lofty aspira- 
tion, and she spoke in deep musical accents: “ Be 
true, Robert Magruder, to thy nature. Use thy 
highest powers. Let thine aim be as exalted as 
thy strength; and thou may’st earn that title!” 

“ But Moses,” said the young man, with an ad- 
miring puzzled look, “ led his people from bondage 
into freedom. My people, though unsuccessful in 
war, are not in bondage. If I were a negro, 
now — ” 

The girl’s start stopped him. A deep blush, suf- 
fusing her beautiful face and neck, left them like a 
bust of alabaster. “ Magruder,” she cried, in her 
rich, entrancing tones, “thy heart is too great to be 
confined by race — thy people, Robert Magruder, is 
the brotherhood of man!” 

He gazed enraptured on the lovely woman, 
whose countenance seemed lighted with the spirit 


52 


WILD ROCK, 


of a priestess, and bending toward her he ex- 
claimed: “Oh! you should be Moses’ wife!” 

The fire died out of the fair enthusiast’s features, 
merriment twinkled in her eye, and her coraline 
lips wreathed like vines about the. pearls, as she 
answered with her silvery laugh: “ Mrs. Moses! 
Mercy, what a name!” 

“ This masquerading goes too far!” cried the 
young man, thoroughly provoked. “ I will know 
its meaning!” Confident of his ability to outrow 
the girl, Robert dropped his paddle into the water. 
A brisk wind was blowing across the river. Quick 
as light, a taper mast arose and a little sail flutter- 
ing over the lady’s tiny shell filled with the breeze. 
The Bessie’s prow nearly touched the bark canoe, 
when the latter shot away, and before Robert 
made fifty strokes he saw that pursuit was hope- 
less. Turning his bateau again down the river, he 
soon landed at the cotton-field. 

The cotton, among the frost-touched plants, 
looked like snow drifts in a winter coppice. White- 
oak baskets sat in the rows. Here and there a 
negro, with a bag strapped on his shoulder, was 
picking the fiber from the bolls. A creaking ox- 
cart moved from a distant point carrying hampers 
of picked cotton to the gin-house. And now and 
then could be heard from parts of the field the 
negros’ cotton-picking songs. 


WILD ROCK, 


53 


Robert approached the structure at the edge of 
the wood, whence the hum of a gin-stand pro- 
ceeded, and entering the great roof which stood on 
twelve large upright timbers, he went directly to 
the lint-room, and saw the shower of fleece falling 
on the polished floor like a driving snow storm. 
Very dusty black fellows, festooned with flakes of 
white, moved about in there carrying the fleece to 
the press. Like a good manager, the young man 
then went to the ground, and inspected four patient 
mules trudging in a circle under the shed, and oc- 
casionally wagging a long ear in patient protest 
against the imposition. 

Seeing that all was working properly, he followed 
a path into the woods. Here, seated near a little 
creek that ran into the bayou,, was Doctor Cole. 
A pile of splits, softening in the water, was to be 
worked into the basket which he was making. 
Awhile Magruder stood, and watched the basket 
growing under the negro’s nimble fingers. Sud- 
denly he said, “ Cole, what is Vedoo ?” 

The black dwarf looked up at the questioner 
with a stare of wonder. “ Vedu speak in de tun- 
der,” he muttered; “an’ strike wid lightnin’ flash.” 
Pointing to a blasted oak, he added, “Vedu hit dat 
tree!” 

“Doc,” said Robert, “I have seen a beautiful 
girl at the island.” The dwarf grinned. “Is this 


54 


WILD ROCK. 


Marie ?” The Doctor nodded his ugly head. 
“ Cole,” continued the young man, “ who is 
Marie ?” 

An ashen hue spread over the negro’s face, and 
he was silent. 

“Tell me,” said Robert, “and you shall have 
this!” 

Doc eyed the gold coin in Magruder’s hand. 
Cupidity and fear contended in his grotesque feat- 
ures. Then rising, he took the money, and hissed 
in Robert’s ear: “ Marie — Vedu queen!” 


WILD ROCK. 


55 


CHAPTER VI. 

‘*The salutiferous fountain.” 

St. Ronan's Well. 

A t a remote period in the Earth’s history, this 
country, the scene of our story, was under the 
ocean. Layers of sand and clay extend hundreds 
of feet below the surface, and embedded in these 
are found the remains of antedeluvian sea-animals. 
Spots exist, however, in the monotonous expanse 
of clay hills and alluvial valleys, which differ so 
widely from the surrounding country as to induce 
the belief that they are summits of old mountains 
whose bases are buried in oceanic deposits. Lime- 
stone and other rock crop out at these places like 
the result of subterranean convulsions. Mineral 
wells are found in the upheaved strata. The ver- 
dure contrasts with the neighboring forests, and 
the general effect resembles mountain scenes. 

To one of these wells was bound the carriage 
which rapidly passed over the ridge road from the 
gate of Magruder’s residence about sunrise on the 
morning after the deer-drive. Cole, arrayed in a 


56 


WILD ROCK. 


suit of Robert’s old clothes, sat behind the bright 
bay mares with the dignity of a stuffed figure. He 
was a remarkable driver ! In fact Doc would re- 
peatedly have wrecked the expedition but for the 
timely interference of Eustace and Robert, who 
rode on either side of the carriage. The dwarf’s 
supply of excuses, however, was equal to every de- 
mand; and if he ran into a gully or tumbled off a 
bridge, he immediately exclaimed, savagely eyeing 
the mares, “ ’T want me, but Bessie!” or “ ’T was 
all dat dish-face Laury !” And as none of his pas- 
sengers were killed outright, the explanations were 
received. 

Laughing at their mishaps the party went mer- 
rily onward. They stopped at mid-day in an oak 
and hickory grove by a creek just at the entrance 
to the hill country. Resting in the shade, the 
travellers ate a lunch which was brought in the 
carriage. The long gray moss, which hung from 
the limbs of the oak trees almost to the ground, 
drew from Eustace the remark, that a mattress- 
factory should be established. The sun was half- 
way down the western sky, when taking a last 
draught from the cold spring that bubbled out 
of a sandstone bed, the little party resumed their 
journey, and night was far advanced as the car- 
riage, slowly passing by two flaming lamps, entered 
a wood twinkling here and there with a star-like 


WILD ROCK 


57 


candle, and stopped before a long row of glitter- 
ing lights which streamed from the windows of a 
hotel. 

After breakfast next morning, the girls, leaving 
old Magruder to converse with Cecil on the ve- 
randa of the hotel, walked across the green with 
Robert and Wiley, to a pagod-built structure which 
covered the well. A mule, ridden by a small darky 
to the end of a path, drew a long rope which, pass- 
ing over a wheel in the roof of the building, hoisted 
the enormous bucket. Entering the pagoda with 
several other couples, they found a little old gray- 
haired man dipping the water which was just 
raised and pouring it into glasses set in a frame. 

“Hear! ye people,” cried the little gray-head, 
briskly bustling about, “hear the history of the 
wonderful well ! Ah ! my dear young lady,” he 
said in a low confidential aside to Laura, “let me 
give you this cool tumbler right from the rocky 
depths !” and he handed her a glass of the water. 

Raising his voice again, he cried: “Hear the his- 
tory 1 A good man, Kooper, was travelling this 
Indian trail to the Crescent City, when he one day 
stopped his wagon, here and rested under the 
shade. So attractive seemed the spot, that he 
bought the land for a song; and remembering the 
thirst which consumed him, he determined to dig 
a well for travellers. The good man, Kooper, was 


58 


WILD ROCK. 


poor, and being also honest” (Gray-head winked 
familiarly at Eustace), “the well descended slowly. 
Not twenty feet were dug, when the workmen 
struck a rock as hard as flint. Day after day they 
blasted and bored, until the good man’s funds were 
exhausted, and he was fain to abandon the work.” 

“ Poor man !” said Laura, quietly replacing her 
untasted glass in the frame, “what a disappoint- 
ment !” 

“ In the dark hours of that night, as the good 
man lay meditating,” continued the little gray- 
head, “a shape passed before him without dis- 
cernible form, and a voice which spoke to his soul: 
‘Dig, good man, dig! ’ So Kooper mortgaged his 
land, raised money and started again. At last the 
rock was cut through, but only to meet another 
and tougher stone ; and the borrowed money was 
spent and the hole was dry. The good man gave 
up ; but in the darkness of night again passed be- 
fore him the shapeless form which uttered the 
voice, without words, to his soul : ‘ Dig, good man^ 
dig, and you shall find ! ’ Kooper arose, and went 
forth and begged. He told his visions, and men 
said he was wild!” 

“And quite correct, they were, by George 
cried the scout, who had just entered the pagoda. 

The little man looked at him fiercely, but con- 
tinued without further noticing the interruption : 


WILD ROCK. 59 

He got the money ; and the workmen cut 
through this rock. But their labor was in vain, 
for they encountered a harder one still. The great 
hole was now a wonder — nearly a hundred feet 
deep, and perfectly dry. Now the workmen be- 
came alarmed and said they would go no lower. 
His money, property and credit were all gone — the 
good man was utterly broken. But again in the 
darkness of night the formless shape passed before 
him, and the voice without words: ‘Dig, good 
man, dig ! and you shall find life for millions!' 
The good man arose and woke the tired workmen. 
He entreated them to go down yet again. At last 
they consented to make one more blast. All the 
morning they bored and fixed their mine, for they 
determined to make the last a big explosion. Just 
as the mid-day sun looked down the black cavern, 
the burning fuse touched the powder. The report 
was dull, and the men thought the blast a failure. 
But immediately a low rumbling thunder was 
heard in the well, which increased to a wild wail 
of triumph, as if the imprisoned spirit was escap- 
ing, and the men listening above heard far down 
in the rocky depths the trickling water !” 

“ Not pleasant at first, my dear child,” said the 
little man, pausing and looking at Bessie, who had 
returned to the frame a scarcely touched glass ; 

“ but you’ll love it when you acquire the taste !” 


6o 


WILD ROCK. 


“Fastening a bucket to their rope,” continued 
the gray-head as he dipped out the water for the 
visitors, “ they drew up some of this fluid ” (hold- 
ing up a glass). “It was, as you see, dark, bad- 
tasting, and its odor was awful. The men turned 
away in disgust, and poor Kooper sank down in 
despair. A rigor seized him, which was followed 
quickly by the fatal fever. Parching thirst burned 
the good man, and he asked for the brackish water. 
The workmen said he would die, and handed him 
the bucket. He seized it eagerly and drank a 
deep long draught. Even as he handed it back, 
and fell over at the root of a tree, profuse perspira- 
tion started out on him. They carried him to his 
house. Next morning they came to bury the good 
man, and he met them in perfect health!” 

“By St. George ! Miraculously false !” laughed 
the scout. 

The little gray-headed man glared savagely at 
the speaker, but in a moment he turned to others, 
and continued with his bland smile: “The fame 
went abroad. Hundreds flocked to the waters and 
were cured of the malaria of the swamps. Houses 
were built. And now the well is literally ‘ life for 
millions ! ’ ” 

As Eustace and Laura were the last to leave the 
pagoda, the little man called them. “Drink this, 
for my sake !” said he, handing them two glasses 


WILD ROCK, 


6l 


of the water. With an effort they managed to 
drain the tumblers. 

“Ah! I knew you were good children,” cried the 
little old man gleefully. “ I began to fear I was 
going to seed. When I kept a big hotel in Vicks- 
burg, swindlers often came to me and borrowed 
a hundred dollars, but now,” he said sadly, “ they 
never ask for more than one. They have very nice 
instincts — they have. I fear Fm going to seed.” 

“ Certainly,” said Laura, “ I never met a nicer 
old gentleman.” 

“Ah ! my dear young lady,” said the little man, 
with a grateful smile, “one property of this water 
I told none of them. I reserved it for you.” Look- 
ing then quietly at Wiley and the lady he said: 
“When a man and woman drink this water to- 
gether on the day the rock first gave its treasures 
— and this is the anniversary — they will wed ere 
the end of the coming year, provided she becomes 
Queen of the Tourney and he the Forester King.” 

They laughed and retired, and the little gentle- 
man stood beaming on them, until a clump of 
shrubbery hid their forms. Robert had taken 
Bessie to a ten-pin alley, where they were now 
making miniature thunder, and Eustace led his 
companion toward a place where some swings 
were erected. 

Midway the green they met old Magruder, who 


62 


WILD ROCK. 


exclaimed : “Lassie, coom awa’! The gallants are 
making ready their sport.” Leaving Eustace, the 
father and daughter walked toward the veranda, 
but a curious black object attracted them. It ap- 
peared to be a monkey climbing a sapling and 
slipping down. Approaching the spot, where some 
merry boys were cheering the fun, they discovered 
Doc engaged in the attempt of taking a purse of 
silver from the top of a greased pole. He had on 
his driving suit, which by this time presented a 
dilapidated appearance. Just as they reached the 
ground. Cole took the purse, and sliding down he 
saw them. 

“Boss,” he cried, running in triumph to the old 
Scotchman, his big white eyes stretched to their 
widest, and every tooth exposed, “ we’s got it — de 
famly ’s dun tak de puss !” 

“ Oh ! Doc,” exclaimed Laura, “ look at your 
beautiful new clothes !” 

The dwarf’s countenance fell, and he gazed rue- 
fully at the stains. 

“ Gang, sir !” cried the old man, “ an’ do na’ coom 
before me again ’till ye cover the grease spots !” 

So saying Magruder walked stiffly away with his 
daughter, leaving the negro standing in abasement 
under a tree. 

Eustace, when abandoned by his fair companion, 
stood thoughtfully where she left him for several 


WILD ROCK. 


63 


minutes. He wus recalling the last glass at the 
well, and he might have remained thus longer, but 
a touch on the arm interrupted his revery. Turn- 
ing, he confronted the little gray-head, who whis- 
pered with a knowing wink: “You want a horse — 
you do !” 

Wiley smiled, for a horse had formed part of his 
meditation, and the little man added: “ Tve got 
him for you — the finest and quickest of them all, 
and thoroughly trained !” 

“ My own horse is here,” said Eustace, “ the one 
I rode, and he can carry me in the tournament.” 

“ Seen him !” said the gray-head, “ won’t do at 
all. Why that scout’s big sorrel has been practis- 
ing for a week. Follow me !” 

Half amused, Eustace went after the little man, 
who led him towards a woodland road, looking 
back occasionally and saying, as he bobbed along: 
** Never do ! Couldn’t even make time ! The 
pretty girl must be queen. We must beat that 
captain. Orleans only can do this !” 


64 


WILD ROCK, 


CHAPTER VII. 


“ There’s some that gar the causeway reel 
With clashing hufe and rattling wheel, 
And horses canterin’.” 


'Epilogue to St. Ronan’s Well. 



GAME which is really equestrian grace- 


hoops has been well-nigh overweighted by 
the too formidable name of Tournament. The 
mailed knight’s warlike pastime had little in com- 
mon with the sport of modern gentlemen. Each 
was a training for war, it is true ; but they differed 
in essentials as widely as the spirits of the ages. 
Prowess was the talisman of the knight, who con- 
quered by the force of his arm and the strength of 
his armor. The cavalryman relies on coolness, 
address, and skill in the use of his weapons. The 
end of the mediaeval game was to cultivate reckless 
valor and that chivalric spirit which would gladly 
hazard all in a deed of desperate courage. Calm 
equipoise, freedom from excitement and the spirit 
to act amidst the rain of death with the rapidity 
and precision of a dress parade is the condition of 
mind that the modern play would produce. Dan- 


WILD ROCK. 


65 


ger is necessarily eliminated from the latter sport, 
by the change in the nature of weapons. Knights 
could amuse their ladies with mimic war in an age 
when armor so far surpassed arms, that two 
legions contended for a day in Italy without in- 
flicting a wound. But the gentlemen who shall 
entertain their sweethearts by shooting Gatling 
guns at each other, will create an impression more 
gory than agreeable. If destructiveness is the ob- 
ject of warlike training, the modern play is more 
efficacious. Twenty of these men, clad in gray 
blouses and armed with their dull-barreled rifles, 
would easily overcome King Arthur and his 
knights encased in glittering mail and wielding 
their ponderous battle-axes. 

No doubt can exist of the beauty or efficacy of 
this now discarded amusement. Terms of chivalry 
are as inapplicable to it, however, as to Polo or 
the exercises of a company of Royal Lancers ; 
and their use, by exciting vague anticipations in 
the hearer of something indefinitely grand, has 
too often caused a feeling of half contempt for 
the reality. This has gradually grown until the 
game is superseded by base - ball and similar 
amusements. But to our description ! 

A track of a mile in length, shaped like the fig- 
ure eight, enclosed within either loop a pyramid 
of seats, on which was now assembled the beauty 


66 


WILD ROCK. 


of a state. Twenty arches spanned the course, and 
from each dropped as the rider approached a 
small wire hook holding a ring. The mile had to 
be covered in two minutes, and success was meas- 
ured by the number of these rings the rider 
brought into the goal. Laura and Bessie, escorted 
by old Magruder, were approaching one of the 
pyramids of fluttering ribbons and gay loveliness, 
when a young man arrayed in riding costume, 
with light top-boots, which he tapped with a small 
whip, stared insolently at them and remarked 
aloud: “Puty guls, be Jove!” He was the em- 
bodiment of impudent nonchalance. Too pre- 
occupied to notice the affront, the old Scotchman 
was hurried on by his daughter, and Bessie, half 
frightened, followed them. 

As they took seats, Robert joined them, and the 
tourney began. A knight in blue rode first, and 
his spirits were the hue of his armor, when he 
came in without a ring. Others followed, with 
varying success, but the game was too ill con- 
tested to be interesting. 

“Ah! ha! I shall have to join these boys!” 
said a cast-iron looking old fellow, who sat among 
the girls. “They are making a botch of the play!” 

“ We of the auncion regame did things better, 
General Griggles,” cried an old lady behind him. 
“But, as I often tell dear Froggie, ‘Times are 


WILD ROCK, 67 

changed, and manners changed with 'em.’ Ah ! 
'tis sad, General Griggles !” 

“ Sad, indeed, Mrs. Frogg,” replied the General. 

But here comes a lad of another mettle — do you 
know him ?” 

“ Oh ! I know the great sorrel. General Grig- 
gles. ‘ A thing of beauty is a joy forever,’ and 
never, never is forgot ! That is surely Daniel 
Bludger’s horse.” 

“The devil !” cried old Griggles. “Ah! beg par- 
don, madam — but I hoped it was my carpet-bag 
brother in the law. However, the fellow rides 
well, and is taking all the rings — Ah! ha! By 
Jingo, there he missed !” 

The scout, in fact, dressed as a Saracen, was 
reviving the interest of the spectators. The strong 
sorrel flew over the course and the first rings fell 
on his lance, amid a languid approval. But as 
ring after ring glanced upon the pole, hands be- 
gan to clap, the excitement revived, and the Sara- 
cen galloped under the last arch with eighteen 
rings amid thunders of applause. 

“ Gude for Bludger !” cried old Magruder. “ No 
one can beat that ride ! I am proud o’ the ould 
swamp, Laurie !” 

“Ah, me, he can’t be surpassed,” said Griggles 
regretfully. “ But here comes another to try.” 

Laura turned absolutely pale when a new 


68 


WILD ROCK. 


knight in black armor immediately galloped into 
the course. No one else, however, bestowed any 
attention on him. The popular verdict was al- 
ready for the scout, and the judges hardly noticed 
the start of the unexpected contestant. He was 
half round the track, and carried ten of the rings, 
when the fickle fancy of the crowd was caught by 
the long, quick gallop of the thoroughbred chest- 
nut, and the easy carriage of its rider. As they 
gracefully swung through the cross of the figured 
course, another and another ring was taken. 
Anon the splendid animal came tearing down the 
homestretch, and when he glided through the 
cross again, bearing the twenty rings, there burst 
on the air that peculiar exultant yell, which the 
greatest standard in the world has hesitated to 
face and been glad to reckon among its defenders. 

On the light pole, misnamed a lance, which Eus- 
tace carried, one of the judges now hung a crown 
of flowers. The young man reined back his horse, 
and then rode at a slow pace between the two 
pyramids of handsome women. He had pro- 
ceeded only a few steps when these fair ladies, as 
if by concert, dropped their eyes and drew haugh- 
tily back. Eustace glanced along the sea of 
averted faces with the same start of surprise 
which the scout’s conduct had occasioned at Ce- 
cil’s breakfast. Laura alone was leaning eagerly 


WILD ROCK. 


69 


forward, a look half anxiety, half pleasure on her 
classic features. The rider smiled and, bowing 
low, laid the crown at her feet, and this charming 
girl, raising it herself, placed the flowers on her 
graceful head. Whatever the Southern women 
may have thought of the adventurer, who carried 
off the prize, they were not prepared to affront the 
Magruders, and, with a little flutter of excitement, 
maid and matron crowded around the new-made 
queen. 

* In the confusion, a lad caught the bridle of 
Wiley’s horse, and told the rider that General 
Mack wanted him. Following the boy, he found 
the little gray-head awaiting him behind a coppice. 

Good, good!” exclaimed the little man, as 
Eustace dismounted, “ you have done finely, and 
now put on this coat.” 

In spite of Wiley’s protestation. General Mack, 
removing the armor, slipped a green blouse over 
the young man’s shoulders, and said, pushing him 
forward: “Now, sir, yonder are the foresters. Go 
and be king 1” 

A cubic block with faces a foot square was 
placed for a target upon a stand on one side of the 
cross, and at the other, a hundred yards distant, 
the riflemen assembled. They were to shoot 
across the track, between the two pyramids of 
spectators. Clad in green blouses belted at the 


70 


WILD ROCK. 


waist, the foresters presented an appearance as 
striking as the knights. Some of the latter had 
changed their garments, and were among the rifle- 
men. Of this number was the scout, who, ap- 
proaching Eustace, as the latter came toward the 
cluster of green-coated men, said in a low tone: 
“ King for your queen will I be — mark it — by 
George’” 

When Eustace reached the stack of guns, he was 
surprised, for they were not the army rifles which 
he expected to find, but long slim-barreled guns,, 
with stocks of a peculiar shape. He saw at once 
that defeat was inevitable if he shot with these arms. 

“Gentlemen,” said he, addressing the foresters, 
“a gun like these I never saw before, and I am 
unwilling to contend with such arms. But if any 
of your number will try with me the revolvers, I 
will abide that test.” 

A frown settled on the foresters’ brows mena- 
cingly. “Now, by St. George !” cried the scout, 
“ nobody asked you to join us. And as to your 
threat — ” 

“Come, Bludger !” said a handsome black-eyed 
giant, laughingly stepping before the scout, and 
glancing along the frowning faces of the others, 
he said: “This rifle is prescribed by our rules; 
but a stranger shall not be compelled to use it. 
King you cannot be without shooting with this 


WILD ROCK. 71 

gun, but you may have the chance of showing that 
you can outshoot a king with the pistol.” 

“Last season I was king of the foresters,” he 
added with a good-natured smile ; and taking a 
revolver from a young man who offered it, he fired 
at a white spot on a tree some sixty yards away, 
and grazed its edge. “Now, sir !” he said, laugh- 
ing and handing Eustace the pistol, “ beat that, if 
you can, and you beat Alex Norman.” Eustace, 
who was an expert with the weapon, obliterated 
the white mark. The black-eyed giant bowed 
with the courtesy of a king, and complimented 
him upon his success. 

Already the riflemen had ceased to regard Eus- 
tace and his new friend and begun to shoot at the 
target. One round established the scout’s superi- 
ority, for Norman, who alone could contend with 
him, was excluded by the rules from becoming 
king twice in succession. 

When the scout put his last bullet in the little 
black spot at the centre of the target’s face, he 
dropped the stock of his gun on the ground, and 
turning to Eustace, said sneeringly: “ By George, 
the queen belongs to me !” 

The young man’s fine curvilinear face worked 
convulsively, and his upper lip quivered. An 
eagle-like glance shot from his dark eyes. But in 
a moment, he checked himself, and drew back his 


72 


WILD ROCK. 


half-advanced foot, saying, with a cold smile: 

Ladies, sir, are not to be made the prizes of 
target shooting.” 

Laura saw their movements, and divined the 
words which she was too distant to catch. “ Rob- 
ert,” she said, bending towards her brother an 
imploring look, “ you shoot better than this 
scout!” 

Young Magruder comprehended his sister’s 
appeal. He made no reply. But leaving her side, 
he appeared a moment after, clad in green among 
the foresters. Taking a rifle from the stack, he 
fired and obliterated the black centre and Blud- 
ger’s bullet mark together. 

Another face of the block was now turned, and 
before the silent gaze of five hundred spectators, 
Magruder and the scout prepared to test their 
fortunes. Both were noted for skill in the use of 
this peculiar rifle, and the interest of the assembly 
rose almost to the point of excitement. 

Bludger shot first to display his skill. His 
harsh features and strong angular form appeared 
incapable of feeling, but the passage of words 
with Eustace had caused a slight quickening of 
the pulse. Knowing this he stood for a full 
minute, before he raised the rifle ; then slowly 
placing it to his shoulder, he fastened the sight 
upon the black spot and fired. The bullet struck 


WILD ROCK. 


• 73 

a little to the right of the centre. The scout 
frowned. Robert, laughing, took his stand and 
fired, again obliterating the centre spot. 

Little enthusiasm greeted Magruder’s victory. 
The scout was a favorite with the people, who 
were inclined to consider him unjustly deprived of 
both prizes after they were gained. Eustace was 
a stranger, and of an unwelcome class, and they 
were glad to see him humbled by the scout. Rob- 
ert was visited with some of the spite which Laura 
had occasioned in accepting the ephemeral sover- 
eignty from such a source. And hardly a genu- 
ine shout rewarded the announcement, that Rob- 
ert Magruder was King of the Foresters and 
would lead the ball at night with Laura, the 
Queen of Beauty. 

The company began dispersing to prepare for 
dinner. Old Magruder with Eustace and Robert 
were crossing the green to reach the veranda, 
when a number of bags came rolling toward 
them. Laura was behind with Bessie and Cecil, 
but she recognized a woolly head protruding from 
one of the sacks, and came forward to prevent the 
old Scotchman from discovering the victor in the 
sack race. She was, however, too late. 

“Book!” cried old Magruder, looking down at 
the bag which led the advance, “ What the deil 
did ye crawl into that sack for? Say, ye atomy!" 


74 


WILD ROCK. 


The bag rolled slowly over, a big round black 
head protruding showed its white eyes and spaddle 
teeth, and a grating voice replied: “Dar covyer 
de greeze pots. Dat’s sense! Haw! haw! haw! 
Yar telled me to covyer the greeze pots.” 

“Come, father,” said Laura, and hurried the old 
man onward. The rest followed, and after a sharp 
walk, they were shortly upon the veranda. Old 
Magruder was still inclined to fume about Cole’s 
antics, and as soon as he had recovered his breath, 
began: “Ye are too froward, Laurie! Why did ye 
na let me rate the boy ?” 

“Why father — ” began the lady; but Cecil, who 
had no confidence in the efficacy of her explana- 
tion with the old man, came forward leading by 
the arm old Griggles. 

“Mr Magruder,” said he, “ this is General Grig- 
gles, our counselor at the capital, who has come 
to enjoy the sports.” 

The old Scotchman bowed; and the gentlemen 
engaged in conversation. Cigars were brought,, 
and they sat smoking and talking of the games. 
Meantime the ladies retired to rest and to adorn 
their loveliness for the dining hour. 

When the goodly company were assembled in 
the long low-ceiled dining-room, adorned with the 
antlers of many a slain stag. General McMack — 
they called him old Mack and sometimes little 


WILD ROCK. 


75 


Mack — presided over the sumptuous cheer and the 
corps of ebony vraiters. Peace to thine ashes, old 
Mack! Well do I remember thee, with thy white 
hair and ruddy face and genial smile, singing out 
thy bill of fare. Never, oh! never, little Mack, 
shall we see thine equal again. 

“Turtle soup, made of the finest terrapin,” cried 
the little gray-head, bustling around the room. 
“ Oysters from the Gulf — crabs from Pasca- 
goula, singing the lost tribes’ song — Mississippi 
mountain trout — ” 

“My dear young ladies, take these seats,” he 
said sotto voce to Laura and Bessie as they entered 
the room; “ now what will you have ?” 

“We of the auncion regame,” said Mrs. Frogg, 
waddling up and appropriating a seat by the girls, 
“ always take trout. ‘ ’Tis sweet to see the fish cut 
with its golden oar the silver stream! ’ ” 

“Jerry, you black rascal!” said the little man to 
a waiter, “get the lady a catfish; and bring some 
soup to these young folks — Southdown mutton 
and beef from down South!” he said as he bustled 
away, smiling and nodding to this one and 
that. 

The scout, meeting Doc in the vestibule, as he 
entered the room, cried, “ Out of my way, 
Magruder!” and kicked the dwarf. At this mo- 
ment old Griggles appeared, and together the two 


76 


WILD ROCK. 


men entered the dining hall, regardless of Cole’s 
frantic grimaces behind their backs. 

“Ah! General Griggles and Captain Bludger, 
what can I do to serve you?” asked old Mack, ap- 
proaching these gentlemen; “some fine old claret 
has just arrived and some of the very best Bour- 
bon — ” 

“ Send me the claret,” said Griggles. 

“Bourbon for me !” cried the scout, seating him- 
self noisily. 

“ Billy,” said little Mack, “ bring the General some 
of the fresh claret, and give the other man a bottle 
of rye whiskey.” 

“Turkey, fine turkey,” sang- old Mack as he went 
smiling off to new guests; “ fat turkey — all the best 
in the world.” 

“Ah, Mr. Magruder,” he said, approaching the 
girls again, and leaning over the old Scotchman’s 
chair, “the beef is really fine, sir, and the turkey, 
and you will not find the oysters bad — Andrew, 
here, you imp of darkness!- Attend exclusively on 
this party — Mr. Robert, his companion, and these 
three — dyer hear!” 

“Venison from the forest — fresh and fine — all 
the best in the world!” and away went little gray- 
head again, singing the praises of what he had and 
much which he did not have. Oh! genial old 


WILD ROCK. 77 

Mack, how many a dinner owed its success to thy 
songs of praise! 

“ Health to our sovereigns!” said General Grig- 
gles, in his cast-iron manner, raising a glass of 
wine. Servants at his command had filled wine- 
glasses before all of our friends. Robert and 
Laura bowed and smiled and tasted the General’s 
offering. Eustace bowed and drank, and old 
Magruder was on the point of speaking, when 
Madam Frogg broke in: “Yes, General Griggles, 
long life and happiness to our king and queen, and 
* confusion to our enemies,’ as the poets say. Some 
folks make talk that one family shouldn’t have all 
the honors; but Froggie said ‘A man can’t have too 
much of a good thing’ — didn’t you, darling?” 

Froggie darling fixed his steady eye on Griggles, 
and his other optic wandered over the guests; 
then swallowing his chin and opening his mouth, 
he prepared to speak. But what he intended to 
say never appeared, for the scout cried, lookings 
fiercely at the king: “ I’m a mastodon! ” 

Bludger, sitting among his 'admiring companions, 
of whom the soft-speaking young man who compli- 
mented the “puty guls” was a leader, had been 
detailing his war exploits to their chorus of ap- 
plause. The rye whiskey had mounted to his 
head, and his bleared eyes and coarse features 
made him look now, with his hair tumbled over 


78 


WILD ROCK. 


his eyes, like a wild animal. None of this clique 
had raised tkeir glasses at Griggles’ toast, and the 
scout, half tipsy, sat glowering over the wine- 
glass, and exclaiming: “ I’m a mastodon! Too 
much Magruder here, by George. I’m a whale! ” 

Young Magruder calmly placed upon the table 
the wine-glass from which he was drinking, and 
rose from his chair in the manly beauty of a young 
Apollo. ^‘Captain Bludger will understand,” he 
said, catching and riveting the scout’s eye, “ that 
I am no mollusk.” With a slight but significant 
nod to the coterie, the king sat down, and im- 
mediately the scout and his companions noisily 
pushed back their chairs and left the table. 

When they reached the door. Cole was in the 
vestibule, holding Bludger’s little darky by the 
hair, and kicking him soundly, as the boy cried: 

I didn’t mean nuffin; Miss Gruder is bery good 
queen — she is! ” 

“Here you, tar babie!” said the scout, with 
drunken gravity, catching Doc by the wool in turn, 
“Say! hie — ain’t you the nigger — hie — I kicked as 
I went in ? — hie — and you — hie — are here kicking a 
man yourself!” 

The dwarf extricated his round head and, grin- 
ning back at the scout, as he shuffled away, ex- 
claimed: “Pshaw! Cap, we gen’l’m’n knows who 
to kick! Dat’s sense! Plaw! haw! haw!” 


WILD ROCK, 


79 


The sun was just setting as the company came 
out upon the veranda. Dinner was .over, the 
diners gone, and the hall was cleared for the 
closing masque. 

Night threw down her mantle. Lights soon flash- 
ed from the windows. Music then began and fig- 
ures strange appeared. A queen, wearing a crown 
of flowers, walked across the floor. Bayard went 
before the queen, and Arthur kissed her hand. The 
king made his entrance, to an old minuet tune. This 
monarch greeted a flower-girl who had sweet 
Bessie’s hair, and a gypsy maid told fortunes, with 
a green devil’s aid. The queen now danced with 
Launcelot, the king with the flower-girl, and the 
devil played the devil to the gypsy maid’s delight. 

Under the starry canopy without walked the 
knight and the flower-crowned queen. “ Laura, my 
darling, my beautiful one,” murmured Sir Launce- 
lot’s voice; and the soft sigh of the flower-crowned 
queen was the only answer made. 

Out in the moonlight under the shadows, the 
king walked with the gypsy maid, and talked to 
her of love; and the devil followed them, wagging 
his tail, and quietly said: “Dat’s sense!” 

Oh! ’twas a merry masque, a long-remembered 


scene. 


8o 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

“Worthies, away! The scene begins to cloud.” 

Love's Labot^s Lost. 

EXT morning presented a busy scene. Guests 



^ were standing on the veranda and in the 
green before the hotel, bidding adieu to one another. 
Carriages, spring-wagons and buggies were in the 
gravelled way. Here porters strapped big trunks 
in the boot of an old-fashioned coach. There a 
smartly dressed serving-man put a new gladstone 
into a light gig. Most of the company had de- 
parted, and Robert was alone upon the veranda 
when Cecil appeared. In his calm, graceful man- 
ner he advanced toward the young man and, after 
some remark about the variable weather, said: 
“ Robert, I think Laura commits an error in sub- 
mitting to this young fellow’s addresses.” 

“ You refer to Eustace ?” asked young Magruder. 

“Yes,” answered Cecil, taking Robert’s arm 
as they promenaded the veranda, “your father’s 
mental condition induced me to mention to you 
what ordinarily should have been reserved for his 


WILD ROCK, 


8i 


ear. Eustace is an adventurer, and of an unpopu- 
lar class.” 

“ Since when, Colonel Cecil,” asked the young 
man, gravely, “did you discover the Magruders 
trimming their sails to the popular breeze? But 
why do you think that Laura is partial to the 
gentleman ?” 

“Last night I observed them,” answered Cecil 
ignoring the first question, “and I also heard these 
people’s remarks.” 

“ What remarks ?” cried Magruder, so sharply, 
that Cecil almost started. “ Who has dared to 
couple my sister’s name — ” 

“ Oh ! The whole company, for that matter,” 
replied the iron-gray gentleman, with some impa- 
tience of manner. “ But this is of slight importance. 
If she drops his intimate acquaintance now, the 
talk will cease.” 

“ But why should she slight the gentleman ?” 
asked Robert. 

Cecil stopped and deliberately surveyed his com- 
panion. “ The man,” he said, “ is a carpet-bag 
adventurer.” 

Robert stood in silent thought awhile, and then 
saying, “ I will think of your words,” abruptly left 
his companion. 

The subject of this conversation was helping old 
Magruder and his daughter into the carriage, and 


82 


WILD ROCK. 


half - abstractedly glancing at the western sky. 
When Bessie’s turn came, she declined his assist- 
ance by brushing past him and getting in without 
aid. As the bays, driven in Doctor Cole’s finest 
style, drew the carriage rapidly over the gravel. 
Miss Cecil put her head out of the window, and 
cried to Eustace, who was gazing at the southern 
horizon, “ Don’t wish us a ducking, sir!” and then 
sinking back on the seat she exclaimed, “Oh! that 
man!” 

Laura looked up, but made no reply; and Bessie, 
growing more impatient, cried, with a toss of her 
head: “You love him, young lady!” 

Miss Magruder blushed. “And if I do,” she 
asked, “ what then ?” 

“Oh, Laura!” cried Miss Cecil, “not him — any 
one rather than him!” 

“ What do you mean ?” asked Laura, half-indig- 
nantly, but with a vague alarm. 

“Your life, my dear, will be wretched,” cried 
Bessie; “you will ever hold an inferior position; 
and soon you will learn to hate the man!” 

“Why, Bessie!” exclaimed Miss Magruder, 
“ what has he done ?” 

“Can you not see?” asked her companion; “he 
submits to every indignity. Oh! Laura, he has no 
spirit !” 

No answer was made to this charge. Alternate 


WILD ROCK. 


83 


sunshine and showers made the April-like morning, 
but now the changing lights deepened, and Laura 
looked out the window. A sombre cloud hung on 
the western horizon. Southward was heard low 
rumbling, like continuous thunder. Old Magru- 
der sat opposite the girls, writing on his tablets. 
And they rode on in silence. 

Laura, my darling,” murmured Miss Cecil, put- 
ting her head upon the shoulder of her friend, 
^‘you know I love you.” 

Laura shrank away. The lights now deepened 
to a gray dawn, changing to twilight, and the old 
man looked up from his abstraction. 

“Why, girls,” he said, “I canna’ see!” 

The negro was now heard urging on the horses. 
Oppressive anxiety seized the inmates of the ve- 
hicle. A crash of thunder broke over them, and, 
the carriage, which Doc was driving furiously, 
stopped with a jolt. 

“What noo, Dook ?” asked Magruder, looking 
out. 

“ Dey won’t go no furder 1” whimpered the 
negro. 

Opening the door, the old man stepped to the 
ground. The mares were cowering at a bridge, 
which they refused to cross. And no wonder ! 
The sky now wore a greenish tinge. Black masses 
were rising in the south-west like smoke from 


84 


WILD ROCK. 


a steamer’s chimneys. The rumbling had increased; 
and park after park of artillery seemed discharg- 
ing in the sky. 

“Girls,” cried the old man, bewildered, “an aw- 
ful thing is goin’ to hap!” 

“Vedu gwine ter fling loose Powderee!” whis- 
pered the dwarf’s coarse voice, and his face looked 
gray with fright in the deepening gloom. 

Rapid hoof -strokes of a running horse were 
heard, and Eustace galloping to the carriage, 
leaped from the saddle and threw the door open. 

“Get out !” he said, peremptorily. “Mr. Magru- 
der take the ladies down yonder path,” pointing to 
one cut in the high bank and extending to the dry 
bed of the creek. “Doc, cut the traces!” and, 
opening his pocket knife, the young man in less 
time than we have told of it loosed the mares. 

“Lead the horses after the ladies!” he said, and 
followed with his own hack. 

The scene was now terrific. Up in the green sky 
appeared a huge mass like a vast elephant’s trunk. 
Twisting, writhing, seething, it was now like molten 
copper, now black as ink. A network of forked 
lightning played within the cloud, and a hollow 
roar resounded like many trains crossing long 
trestle-works. The monster in the air grew larger. 
Feeling upon the earth, anon it lifted its black 
funnel and cast it down in another place. Roaring, 


WILD ROCK, 


85 


tossing, on, on it came with a noise like rending 
forests. Boughs, limbs, trees flew by. The crump- 
led carriage went over as if discharged from a 
mortar. Armies of fiends seemed howling in the 
sky. Awe settled on the group ! “ Down on the 

ground!” cried Eustace. The air shimmered with 
lightning; and past shot the powderee with a 
demoniac yell of triumph ! 

The storm-god’s chariot went rumbling off in 
the east, and Eustace, pointing to a brilliant rain- 
bow which rose and bent upon the cloud, said 
reverently : Like a Saviour bending in mercy 

o’er the ruin wrought by sin.” 

Seeing that his charge was safe, the young man 
led them from the creek ; Doc, whose eyes were 
like saucers, looked at the vacancy, and cried 
Whar de caige ?” Bessie laughed at this, but 
Laura was silent. 

The path of the tornado through the forest was 
like some vast railroad cut. Every tree was 
down for a breadth of five hundred yards, and 
as far in length as the eye could reach. They 
were thrown in every direction, uprooted, broken, 
splintered and twisted in all conceivable ways. 

At once the ladies and the old man were 
mounted on the horses. Eustace and Doc searched 
out and prepared the way. But, in spite of all 
their efforts, so many were the obstructions, 


86 


WILD ROCK. 


that night had settled down when they found 
themselves at the edge of the storm track. 

None of them knew the road into which they 
emerged. Magruder’s lack of memory incapaci- 
tated him. Doc had not recovered from his 
fright. The girls were by this time in a state 
of mental chaos. Eustace, therefore, led his fol- 
lowers at a venture towards a light which he 
observed about a mile up the road. 

When they reached the gate, the young man 
cried, “Hello!” A voice responded, “Light, and 
come in !” and chairs were heard moving upon 
the gallery. Some one came towards them with 
a candle. 

“ Here they are,” cried Alex Norman’s hearty 
voice ; “ all safe and sound !” and he deliber- 
ately held up the candle and inspected them. 
“Now,” he laughed, “get down and let me see 
if you can walk.” 

“Mr. Eustace,” said Robert, coldly approach- 
ing that gentleman, who was helping Laura from 
the saddle, “I am indebted to you for leading 
my sister into such danger.” 

“Oh! brother,” cried Laura, “he saved all our 
lives !” 

“ Ha ! Quite a storm king,” sneered Bludger,, 
who now approached. “ But there would have 
been more sense in taking tlie Northern road. 


fviLD Trocar. 87 

By St. George, it is easy to escape a trap of 
one’s own setting !” 

“ Welcome to my home, Mr. Eustace,” said 
Norman, ^‘and all now follow me.” So saying, 
the kindly giant led the way, with his candle, 
to the interior of a log room, where a little, 
slender, blonde lady rose to meet them. 

“My wife,” said the giant. “ Jennie, let’s have 
supper.” 

Slender little Jennie bowed to the guests, and, 
turning to a blond boy of ten, said, “ Napoleon 
Bonaparte, go up stairs, and get some meal and, 
meat.” 

“ Marie Antoinette,” cried the boy to a girl of 
twelve, “ boost me up the loom !” arid the bru- 
nette girl, putting her head to Napoleon’s seat 
of honor, proceeded to shove him into the loft 
by way of the machine he named, for stairs 
there were none. 

“Julius Caesar,” cried little Jennie, a moment 
after, as she began making batter for the cakes, 
“get some water.” 

“ Lu Creture Bored Ear,” cried the brunette 
urchin, to a meek little blonde maid of seven, 
“ come with me to well — I’se keered !” And hand 
in hand, away toddled Lucretia Borgia and the 
Roman. 

A savory supper, was soon prepared, and more 


88 


WILD ROCK. 


heartily enjoyed by little Jennie’s guests than 
any meal they ate at the Well. Soon the two 
young ladies were sleeping in the only bed in 
the log chamber, while the giant and his family 
reposed on the table in the other apartment, 
and the male visitors slept upon the gallery. 

When after a hearty breakfast next morning, 
Norman led them through his fields, and bade 
them a hearty god-speed, they felt what a per- 
fect gentleman was their host. And well they 
might, for he, with thousands of others, after 
giving youth and fortune to a lost cause, re- 
turned home to face a life of honest poverty 
with the same gallant, generous heart that made 
him the hero of a war. 


WILD ROCK, 


89 


CHAPTER IX. 

‘*Lo, the poor Indian!" 

Essay on Man. 

T hrough the russet and gold of the autumn 
forest the scout, Robert and Eustace, with 
Bessie and Laura, were riding rapidly one frosty 
morn shortly after the events last described. This 
was Miss Magruder’s excursion. Possessing an in- 
tuitive knowledge of human nature, without the 
experience essential to sagacity, she fancied, poor 
girl, that, since these persons were naturally not 
inimical, she could by bringing them together de- 
stroy their prejudices and create in them mutual 
regard. 

An old mound, like those to be found in many 
parts of this country, was the object of their jour- 
ney. Laura, like a good general, had provided a 
lunch, and sent a servant to leave it under the 
chestnut trees. And an hour’s ride carried her ex- 
cursionists to the spot — a grand old grove. 

Oak trees of enormous growth stretched out 
their sturdy limbs and interlaced their boughs in 


90 


WILD ROCK. 


a canopy over the Bermuda carpeting. No under- 
growth was here, and the horses galloped freely 
over the crisp, frost-touched grass. In the centre 
of this wood appeared a clearing, and in this stood 
the mound. It was rectangular, about forty feet 
high, and on each corner of its summit, which was 
a plain sixty by a hundred feet, grew a branching 
chestnut tree. 

“Oh, I am so sorry!” exclaimed Laura, looking 
up at the trees; “ there are ao nuts.” 

“ Never mind, little sister,” laughed Robert, 
“these trees never bear, but yonder by the creek 
we shall find an abundance.” Dismounting and 
taking some lines from his coat pocket, he added: 
“ I am for fishing, ladies and gentlemen! Who will 
help me Waltonize ?” 

No one answered, and the young man walked off 
alone some three hundred yards to the water, 
Laura and Bessie, when assisted from their horses, 
strayed into a coppice; and Eustace was left at the 
mound with the scout. After they secured the 
animals, Bludger walked up the embankment, and 
sat under one of the chestnut trees. Eustace re- 
mained below, attracted by objects on the ground, 
and presently he picked up one. 

“What is this?” he asked, holding a diamond- 
shaped piece of rock. “ It looks like an arrow- 
head.” 


WILD ROCK. 


91 


“ And such it is," said the scout. “ Your percep- 
tion is stupendous ! Next you will discover that 
this hillock resembles an Indian mound." 

“You think this a battle ^ monument ?" asked 
Eustace, carelessly. 

“It was hardly built for amusement, I suppose," 
said the scout. 

“May be it was," answered the other. “ Devoted 
followers of Epicurus are as likely to have erected 
this for pleasure as the astrological kings of Egypt 
the pyramids for horoscopes. But after all," he 
added, glancing rapidly over the scene, “ it is not 
a bad battle-ground. Yonder creek, with its steep 
banks, and deep water, could be held against a 
superior attacking force." 

“Pshaw!" said Bludger, “ Indians are no more 
philosophers than negroes or baboons." 

“ Why may not men of either color have the same 
culture as if they were white ?” asked Eustace. 

“ Because they are savages," said the scout. 
“ Their education is merely a polish which rubs off 
with the first touch of excitement and leaves the 
barbarous nature unadorned. No race but the 
Caucasian is capable of acquiring real culture. 
Ignorance or disregard of this truth has led to the 
enfranchisement of the negro; and if we submitted 
would soon cause the destruction of our liberties." 

“ What can you do but submit ?" asked Eustace. 


92 


WILD ROCK. 


“ If you nullify the law, you weaken the govern- 
ment, and corrupt the people, and may pave the 
way for an empire.” 

‘‘Let the old rattletrap weaken!” cried the scout. 
“ By George, I should like to see an empire!” 

“ Live long, let public corruption increase,” said 
Eustace, “ and you doubtless will ! I am not 
wholly averse from the change. ‘ A state,’ said 
Plato, ‘will be delivered from its calamities when 
power is united in one person, with wisdom and 
justice.’ Rome was greater under her Caesars 
than when torn by the factions of Marius and 
Sylla. But for our Republic I hope a better 
destiny. How young and vigorous is the nation, 
and how splendid its possibilities! Already in its 
infancy the country has near completion a monu- 
ment higher than the pyramids, a bridge sur- 
passing the Roman aqueduct, a capitol grander 
than Versailles. Its moral force is tremendous. 
The influence of the American Republic to-day is 
greater than Rome possessed. It is the bulwark of 
the liberty of mankind. Ever has the South stood 
as the champion of the constitution upon which 
the grand structure stands; never has she faltered 
in avowing her principles — right or wrong! Rather 
let her perish as the defender — pure and fearless — 
of constitutional liberty, than live the handmaid 
of despotic power!” 


WILD ROCK. 


93 


“ Bravo !” cried the scout, clapping his hands, 
and laughing. By St. George, you’re a Cicero!” 
But he was pleased with the picture drawn by Eus- 
tace, and would have made a kindlier answer, had 
not a scream from the coppice stopped him. 

The interruption occurred in this manner. When 
the girls reached the undergrowth, they sat under 
a chestnut tree and began opening the burrs. A 
few minutes had been thus consumed, when Laura, 
looking toward the mound said, half dreamily, 
“ One almost sees the red warriors fighting yonder, 
Bessie! Perhaps where we sit, an Indian maiden 
looked through this lattice-work of vines watching 
the struggle, and awaiting a lover's return.” 

Looking toward her companion Bessie saw a dry 
limb of an oak and struck it with a stick. Like 
magic it was transformed ! It coiled like a ship’s 
cable, its fanged head and glittering eyes reared as 
if to strike, and over the sounds of the forest rang 
its sharp, warning rattle! Laura, unconscious of 
her danger, would inevitably have been struck, for 
Bessie was unable to move or speak. But at this 
instant a girl, clad in hunting dress, with long 
wavy, chestnut hair hanging over her shoulders, 
stepped fearlessly between Laura and the serpent. 
Her great changeful eyes were fixed upon the glit- 
tering head above the coil, which slowly unwound, 
and the rattlesnake moved softly into the woods. 


94 


IVILD ROCK. 


Bessie’s tongue was now untied, and she 
screamed. 

Laura looked around just in time to see her 
fair preserver disappearing in the undergrowth. 
She was about to ask Bessie what it all meant, 
when the three gentlemen came running to the 
scene. 

“Why, what’s the matter, sister?” cried Robert. 
“I thought an Indian chief had captured you.” 

“ His daughter did appear!” said Bessie. “ Ha! 
ha! ha!” 

“ Sorry she didn’t stop to lunch,” said Robert. 
“ I have some splendid fish, and here comes Cole 
with the wagon.” 

The Doctor’s big, unshapely head appeared now 
in the undergrowth, and in a short time he had pre- 
pared the fish, the lunch was eaten, and our excur- 
sionists were ready to depart. 

“You are melancholy,” said Robert, as they rode 
home in the wagon, to Bessie, who had been un- 
usually silent since the scene in the coppice. 
“That laugh seems to have exhausted your supply 
of merriment.” 

“Such a singular thing occurred !” answered the 
young lady, seriously. “Who can that woman 
be ?” 

“ The Indian girl ?” asked Robert. 

“ Why, the country is full of wandering Choctaws 


WILD ROCK. 


95 


and Ghickasaws,” said the scout. “We have a 
county named after one of the chiefs.” 

“One Red Man, at least,” said Eustace, smiling, 
“ must have been esteemed by the whites.” 

“Yes,” answered Robert. “Leflore was a per- 
sonage of great wealth and influence. He was a 
man of decided character.” 

Eustace smiled, and bowed to Bludger, who an- 
swered, “The exception only proves the rule.” 

Thoughtfully looking back at Doc, who was 
driving before him after the wagon four saddle- 
horses, Eustace remarked: “Some things these men 
of color can do better than their colorless brothers. 
Possibly a new territory like that given to the kin- 
dred of Leflore is the solution of the race- conflict.” 

“ White is a combination of all colors,” said 
Robert, laughing. “With this other shades are 
easily combined. It occur to me that we should 
absorb the various hues and produce a people 
adapted to the country and climate.” 

Pretty Bessie Cecil tossed her head and blushing- 
ly exclaimed, “ Shameful, Colonel Magruder! If 
we are to be entertained by such insulting remarks, 
Laura and I will walk.” And she put her jewelled 
hand upon the side of the wagon as if to get out. 

“Sweet creature, desist!” cried Robert, laughing 
still, and throwing his arm before the young lady. 
“Risk not thy precious life. Who knows but the 


96 


WILD ROCK. 


gentle savage is pursuing us — awaiting in ambush 
to capture stragglers?” 

Bessie leaned back on her seat, prettily pouting, 
with a reproachful glance at xMagruder, and was 
silent. Laura looked inquiringly at Eustace; and 
this gentleman, feeling that his views were expected, 
remarked: “The negro question is beset with diffi- 
culties. Doubtless the two races can work out a 
future if they will cordially unite. But I have 
been thinking that no such union will occur.” 

“And if it should,” cried the scout, who was 
driving, “ the future when attained would astound 
the world. By St. George! a mixture of mean 
whites and lazy mulattoes would result in all the 
vices of which humanity is heir.” 

“ Positively, I will stand this no longer 1” cried 
Bessie; and laughing and shaking her finger at 
Robert, she said, “Tell me a bear-story, sir, I com- 
mand you!” 

“ Once upon a time,” said Magruder, with mock 
solemnity, “there was a gentle savage — ” 

“Oh, hush!” cried Bessie, pouting and tossing 
her pretty head; “I will not have that.” 

The story, with many interruptions, however, 
proceeded. Other narrations followed. And at 
nightfall the excursionists were in the midst of an 
exciting tale of the sea by Eustace, when the wagon 
stopped before Magruder’s gate. 


IVJL£> ROCK, 


97 


CHAPTER X. 


“ Gods, what a stew ! A cannibal crew 
Eating their midnight barbecue.” 

The Cannibal Banquet. 



PILE of oak logs blazed in the wide chimney of 


^ ^ old Magruder’s parlor. The brazen fire-dogs 
shone in the glare. Quaint shadows were cast by 
the high-backed chairs and old-fashioned furni- 
ture. Like children telling ghost-stories, Laura 
sat with Eustace and Robert near the brass 
fender, listening to Bessie’s account of the ser- 
pent-charmer. When she finished with a descrip- 
tion of the girl’s beauty, Eustace narrated a tale 
of a haunted house. The conversation drifted 
into stories of horrors ; and Robert told of an old 
German who, coming into the swamp with his 
family, settled at an unfrequented spot on the 
Yazoo — the River of Death ; how the river rose 
and covered the country, and for weeks no person 
could reach the old man’s place; and how at last, 
when the waters subsided, they found nothing of 
the German’s cabin but a heap of ashes and 
charred human bones. 

“Over the site of the Dutchman’s cot,” laughed 


98 


WILD ROCK. 


Robert, looking into Bessie’s wide-stretched eyes, 

I am going to ride to-night, c nd I will tell you 
if I encounter his spectre. Doc, is my horse ready ? 
— Why, baboon !” he cried, looking at the dwarf, 
who stood trembling before him with open mouth 
and staring eyes, “what ails the fool? Have you 
seen the Dutchman’s ghost?” 

“ Brother,” said Laura, following the young man 
out on the gallery and putting her arm around him, 
“ do not go to-night.” 

“You little goose,” said Robert, “ so you are 
scared too ! How you tremble ! Had I not en- 
gaged to meet Bludger at daylight to arrange the 
election, I should remain, little sister. But it will 
never do to tell the scout that I was scared off by 
a goblin-story. Good-by!” And kissing Laura, he 
walked rapidly to the gate, mounted, and rode 
away in the darkness. 

It was now eleven o’clock, and a drizzling night, 
but a full moon gave some light through the thin 
veil of clouds. There were two ways to reach the 
rendezvous. One around the lake by the main 
causeway was safe and open, but twelve miles 
long. Another led over a bridle-path through the 
densest part of the swamp, where a single misstep 
would plunge horse and rider into marshes or 
quicksands, from which extrication was impossi- 
ble. This path crossed a dangerous lagoon close 


WILD ROCK. 99 

by the River of Death, and here was the site of 
the old German’s horror. 

Doubtful whether the river was low enough 
to enable him to ford the Rolling Fork of the 
Yazoo, — as this place was named, from the unusual 
power of its current in high water, — the young man 
rode slowly along the causeway, debating in his 
mind which route to pursue, until he reached the 
entrance to the path. He was about to take the 
longer road, when a hand grasped his bridle, and 
the dwarf’s harsh voice whispered, “Go roun’ lake. 
No take path. Dat’s sense !” 

“ Loose my bridle-rein, you rascal !” cried the 
young man. “ What do you mean, sir, by following 
me?” 

“ No take path,” said the negro, whose mis- 
shapen form now loomed darkly at the entrance 
to the bridle-way. “ Vedu in Rollin’ Fork. See 
Vedu— Vedu kill !” 

“Out of my way, or I’ll ride you down !” cried 
the young man, urging his horse toward the negro. 

The dwarf leaped aside, and the horse galloped 
into the bridle-path. A few steps carried him 
under the dense foliage which shut out the feeble 
moonlight, and Robert, unable to distinguish an 
object, dropped the reins and trusted wholly to 
the animal’s sagacity. The horse fell into a rapid 
walk, and the young man had ample time to 


100 


WILD ROCK. 


repent his rashness in suffering a foolish negro to 
get him into such difficulty. Meantime the dwarf 
put his ear to the ground, and distinguishing the 
slower pace of the animal, rose and, croaking, 
“ Haw ! haw ! haw ! Dat’s sense !” set off in his 
ambling shuffle after the rider. 

A dark ride of an hour was enlivened only by 
the croak of swamp-frogs, the deep bellowings 
of water-animals, and the occasional lazy splash 
of an alligator near the path. Rushing water 
was then heard, and presently the roar of the 
Rolling Fork. Spurring forward his horse, the 
young man entered the little clearing. There close 
by the Dangerous Crossing stood the Teuton’s 
dwelling, rebuilt. Red light streamed through the 
cracks between the logs. Low chanting and a 
steady tramp were heard, as if the old German’s 
family were celebrating their return to life. 

A feeling akin to awe came over young Ma- 
gruder. The horse stopped, trembling with fear, 
and refused to approach the apparition. It was 
contrary to the traditions of the young man’s 
caste, however, to turn from any danger, and, 
although with an effort, he shook off the feeling 
of oppression. Dismounting, he took hold of the 
bridle-rein and approached the hut. He crouched 
down and looked through a crack, and this spec- 
tacle appeared: 


WILD ROCK, 


lOI 


The interior of the log-cabin was lit up with 
the red glare of a heap of pine knots that 
blazed upon a hearth of tnud, and the black 
smoke, having no escape, hung around the poles 
which served as rafters to a brush roof. On 
a pile of green boughs, in the centre, sat a woman 
robed in a bear’s skin, with the stuffed figure of a 
wild-cat on her head. Her long, wavy hair fell 
over fair shoulders, but her face was turned from 
the observer. Around this creature circled a 
number of blacks stripped to the waist. In front 
tramped one, taller by a foot than the others, whose 
grizzled wool, Moorish head, and commanding air 
attracted Robert. He turned and showed the 
hard features of the Congo chief. Wild Rock. 
They moved in regular tread about the leafy 
throne, now bowing to the woman, now wildly 
tossing their arms on high, and chanting as they 
marched : 

“Voodoo, Marie, Voodoo, Ban ! 

Rid our race of straight-hair man. 

By the cat that climbs the tree, 

By the bear that robs the bee, 

By the eagle bold and free. 

By the snake that follows thee, 

Voodoo, Marie, Voodoo, Ban ! 

Voodoo, death to white-face man.” 

Robert gazed at this scene in wonder. Hesitat- 


102 


WILD ROCK, 


ing a moment, he considered what course he 
should pursue. 

An ominous cry, like a screech-owl, quavered in 
the woods. The horse started, and its hoof snapped 
a dry stick. Instantly the hovel was dark. Hitch- 
ing his steed to a swinging limb, the young man 
called. No answer. Search revealed an open door, 
and he entered the hut. The darkness was pal- 
pable. He felt round the floor, but found nothing. 
Then going to the hearth, he began raking among 
the ashes for a light ; but they were wet, and after 
a fruitless effort to rekindle the dead embers, 
the young man resumed his journey. Moonlight 
had broken through the clouds. The crossing 
was made in safety; and about two o’clock he 
reached the rendezvous — a small double cottage 
owned by Bludger and sometimes used as a school- 
house. 

The scout stood in the door, holding his horse; 
and as Robert approached, he cried, “ Ha ! By 
George! Magruder, I had given you up and was 
about going alone.” 

“ Going where ?” asked the arrival. “ You have 
not yet informed me what we are undertaking.” 

“Oh! we are off for the county tovj^n,” said 
the scout, “ and as we ride I will tell you all about 
the matter.” 

Together they started on a path, and soon 


WILD ROCK. 


103 


turned into a causeway similar to that near old 
Magruder’s house. In fact these roads branched 
from the county town in all directions through 
the swamp, and Robert’s ride had been merely 
from one to another across the marsh. The 
base of a triangle whose apex was the town rep- 
resented the young man’s course during the 
night ; and the riders were as near the seat of 
justice now as was Magruder’s residence. 


104 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER XI. 

“Diseases desperate grown 
By desperate appliance are relieved. 

Or not at all.” — Hamlet. 

E laborate was the original plan of the 
county town. A large square was reserved 
for the marble halls of Justice, and from this cen- 
tre branched ten broad avenues whose appella- 
tions were to be given by victories which the 
armies of the commonwealth were expected to 
achieve. Streets intersected each other at right 
angles — those running east and west to be en- 
titled after the counties of the State, and the 
others after the States of the Union. Doubt 
was expressed among the projectors whether 
the latter thoroughfares would exceed the names, 
or the nation keep pace with the metropolis. But 
their anxiety was dispelled by the event. Long 
before a score of fields had furnished appellations 
for the avenues, they had all become country 
causeways, except one, which, under the name of 
the Big Road, connected a square brick court- 
house with the landing jon the river. This street 


WILD ROCK. 


105 


was lined with one- and two-story frame dwelling- 
houses, and made a handle to the bowl of the 
court square, which caused strangers to com- 
pare the city to a soup-ladle. A number of long 
one-story frame stores faced on each side of the 
grassy square. In front of one of these was sus- 
pended a painted tin with the inscription, “Wiley 
Eustace, Attorney at Law;” and the ensign,“ Daniel 
Bludger, Law Office,” hung in proud rivalry on the 
other side of the green. 

Half-way between the river and the square a 
house faced the Big Road. This resembled all the 
others; but as the gentle reader may never have 
seen one of these edifices, it deserves a passing 
notice. It stood in a yard covered by forest-trees. 
Leaning against each gable-end outside the build- 
ing was a large brick chimney. The single-story 
weather-boarded structure presented to the street 
a gallery adorned with six square posts, and over 
this the great flat side of the roof extended like 
the broad brim of a low-crowned hat which com- 
monly shaded the sunburned features of the na- 
tives in this region. 

On most of the causeways, during the night 
mentioned in the last chapter, muffled equestrians 
might have been seen converging toward the 
town. These riders, singly or in pairs approach- 
ing the house described, entered a side gate, and. 


io6 


WILD ROCK. 


leaving their horses in a stable behind the build- 
ing, went in at a back door. 

This house had a room eighteen by twenty feet 
in dimensions, with low walls ceiled with curly 
pine. In the centre of the bare floor stood a table 
covered with a red cloth, supporting a large lamp,, 
some boxes of cigars, several decanters and glasses^ 
A log fire burned in the wide chimney-place. 
Split-bottom hickory chairs were ranged against 
the walls, and over them was a line of hooks for 
the hats and overcoats of visitors. When the 
horsemen came into the light and hung up 
their wraps, they disclosed the grizzled features of 
the men of the mystic sign. 

Including Cecil there were nine of these men. 
A bold and commanding manner was common 
to all, and proclaimed each a leader in his 
sphere. 

Evidently they expected something, and delayed 
opening their business. Standing in groups about 
the room, with the filled glasses in their hands, 
they conversed in low tones, or sat smoking near 
the fire. Gradually the conversation drifted into 
anecdote and stories of their youthful frolics 
hardly consistent with the silver which mingled 
among the natural shades of their hair. A grizzled 
man, whose haughty eye and curving lip gave dig-* 
nity to a face marked by debauchery, was telling 


WILD ROCK. 107 

one of his escapades, and at its unique dinouemenf 
the men broke into hilarity. 

“Ha! ha! ha!” laughed the iron-gray men; and 
then checking themselves they gazed curiously at 
one another. At this moment the door swung 
open and Bludger, with young Magruder, entered 
the room. They looked at the scout inquiringly. 

“All right!” answered Bludger. 

“Ah!” cried Cecil, with a start of surprise, 
“surely, no!” The remainder of the men only 
said, “ Then we certainly win!” 

“By St. George!” cried the scout, laughing 
coarsely, “we always win. Now, gentlemen, 
health to the enterprise.” He raised a goblet and 
bowed, and the company drained their glasses. 

The tawny whiskers and handsome, bold blue 
eyes of Robert Magruder gave him the aspect of 
a fine young Englishman. But an appearance of 
indecision overspread his face during this scene, 
which upon the firm lines of his manly mouth 
caused an expression almost ludicrous. 

Of all the company, none but Cecil observed 
this evidence of the young man’s feeling. The 
others, regarding their scheme as perfected, 
dropped the subject; and some one suggested a 
game. 

Cards were produced. Fast and furious grew 
the fun; and the streak of early dawn found them 


io8 


WILD ROCK. 


at their carousal. Hardly had light appeared, 
when a black boy knocked at the door and called 
them to breakfast. After this meal they strolled 
in couples up the street and separated in the 
town. 

The men into whose secret conclave we have 
entered represented half the chief white families 
in a vast population of negroes. Surrounded by 
this sea of Africans who were lately slaves and 
might now remember the injuries which they suf- 
fered, the sparse Caucasian element felt like the 
followers of Clive or Hastings in the midst of the 
hordes of India. 

The negroes, having a power thrust upon them 
which they had not sought and whose uses they 
did not comprehend, were inclined to aggression, 
without as yet a definite object. But the example 
of St. Domingo was ever present with the white 
people ; and a few Congos and Ashantees who 
had not outlived their native savageness or the 
superstitions of their race gave a fierce reality to 
apprehensions which germinated in a perturbed 
society like weeds in alluvial earth. 

In short, there existed in this country at the time 
of which we write an apparently irreconcilable 
conflict of races. With the Caucasians it was a 
question, as they argued, of self-preservation; and 
if their methods were often lawless and sometimes 


WILD ROCK. 


109 


cruel, this was the inevitable result of the doctrine 
which they sincerely believed, that they were the 
superior race, the owners of the soil, and therefore 
entitled, and in duty bound, to direct the govern- 


ment. 


no 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER XII. 

“ A weapon that comes down as still 
As snow-flakes fall upon the sod, 

But executes a freeman’s will 
As lightning does the will of God ; 

And from its force nor doors nor locks 
Can shield you: ’tis the ballot-box.” 

A Word from a Petitioner. 

S ABBATH stillness reigned in the town. Stores 
were closed, the streets deserted. The oc- 
casional tread of a white pedestrian could be 
heard on the plank sidewalks which served for 
pavements; and now and then a company of ne- 
groes rode through the streets on mules. Shot- 
guns were seen in the hands of some of the blacks. 
A white man here and there displayed the more 
dangerous revolver. All were moving toward an 
old school-house, which sat under an elm-tree in a 
field beyond Court Square. 

Eustace was sitting in the door of the front 
room of his office, reading a volume, when Cecil 
approached with his calm gracefulness. 

“Well, sir student,” said the latter, “what do 
the books reveal ?” 

“ There had not yet come in,” read Eustace 


WILD ROCK. 


Ill 


from the open volume, “ that disregard of the oath 
which now marks the age, nor had men yet learned 
to force laws and institutions into an accommoda- 
tion to their selfish ends, instead of adapting their 
own manners an^ conduct to the higher aims of 
government.” 

‘‘Let me see your radical crank,” said Cecil, 
taking the book. “ Livy ! Of what was the Roman 
writing?” >, 

“ The purer days of the Republic,” answered 
Eustace, carelessly. 

Percy Cecil looked at him keenly. “What do 
you know ?” he asked. 

“ I do not understand you,” said Eustace, look- 
ing up surprised. 

“ Ha! ha! ha!” laughed the iron-gray gentleman, 
and throwing the book on a table, he said, “Come, 
let us vote.” 

Eustace arose, and together they strolled up to 
the balloting-place. 

The school-house was closed except the front 
door. This entrance had three tables arranged on 
the sides of a square, so that the voter found him- 
self, when he stepped into the house, enclosed in a 
kind of court or vestibule. On the tables were 
placed the poll-books and the tin box to receive 
the tickets. The inspectors and clerks sat behind. 
Daniel Bludger and two colored citizens governed 


II2 


WILD ROCK. 


the election. One of the latter was fat and pom- 
pous, and his knowledge consisted of a few scraps 
of statutory language which he had absorbed 
while justice of the peace. The other was lean 
and weak, and his accomplishments in figures had 
recommended him to his race for this position; 
but as his experience in counting was limited to 
the enumeration of watermelons in his patch, he 
had never gone beyond a score, and whenever he 
reached “twarnty,” as he styled the numeral, he 
invariably began over again. The fat citizen was 
expected by the black people to see that the 
election was legally conducted, and the lean citi- 
zen that the count of the votes was fair. 

Outside the scene was enlivening; and as the day 
wore on the excitement became intense. White 
canvassers tried to mingle among the negroes, but 
the latter came up in companies, cast their votes 
and retired. A score of black men lingered in 
groups about the school-house, and here and there 
stood a few whites. Now and then one of the 
latter would advance and drop a white ticket into 
the box, but a constant stream of green ballots 
had been poured in for hours by the colored 
voters. The white men felt that they were being 
crushed by numbers in this contest, which was 
rather a battle than an election, and they longed 
to change the nature of the conflict so that their 


WILD ROCK, 


II3 

points of superiority would tell. At last the polls 
were closed. 

*‘Now,” said the fat citizen, “we recedes to de 
count.” 

“ Let de numeration be numerated,” said his 
lean colleague. 

“I am hungry, men,” said the scout, “and I 
move we adjourn to dinner. We can lock the 
door and be back in an hour.” 

“ De statu say ‘den an’ dar,’” objected the fat 
ex-justice. “De count must recede den an’ dar!” 

“ When and whar ?” asked Bludger. “ However, 
if you don’t want any dinner, I am content. We 
can finish by morning. Open the box.” 

“Pause! brudderin, pause!” cried the lean man. 
“ Wid me the flesh am weak, and I ’poses ter ’spend 
de numeration til arter cretur cumfuts.” 

“Majority rules!” cried Bludger, and rising he 
left the box, and moved toward the door. The 
lean citizen followed. But the fat man said, 
“ Hold, gentlemen, let’s have a guard.” 

The scout agreed to this. With great pomposity 
the fat citizen approached the door, and cried, 
“ Possee commitatis ter guard de box !” And a 
hundred negroes standing around began crowding 
to the house. 

“ Have twarnty,” suggested the lean man. 

Twenty black men, armed with bludgeons and 


WILD ROCK. 


1 14 

guns, accordingly stood by the locked door while 
the inspectors and clerks went to dinner. 

Night had set in before they returned, and when 
Bludger opened the door the crowd rushed into 
the house. It was dark. “ Bring a light!” cried 
the scout ; and some one produced a candle and 
matches. Bludger struck a light, and, looking up, 
said, “Ah! Magruder, thank you. You are too 
late to vote, I fear;” and he turned inquiringly to 
his associates. 

“ De polls am closed,” said the fat man. 

“De numeration must percede,” said the lean 
citizen. 

Bludger yielded the point, and they began to 
count the votes. Tickets of each color were, when 
counted, strung on a separate wire; and the white 
eyes in the circle of black faces watching the 
strings grew whiter, and their jaws fell lower and 
lower, as the snowy cord stretched down toward the 
floor, while the other was hardly tipped with green. 

Presently the scout announced that the white had 
carried the day; and turning to the ex-justice, he 
asked if the laws had been complied with. 

“ De ’lection,” said the fat citizen, dolefully, “ is 
in ’pliance wid de statu.” 

“ Say, you numeration-man,” cried a young negro, 
fiercely, to the lean worthy, “how many green 
tickets war put in de box ?” 


WILD ROCK. 1 1 5 

The lean citizen looked up helplessly and ejacu- 
lated, “Twarnty!” 

“Haw! haw! haw!” croaked a grating laugh in 
a dark corner of the room. “ Vedu had dat box. 
Dat’s sense! Haw! haw! haw!” 

The officers made their returns; and nothing 
more being done, the crowd began quietly to sepa- 
rate. 

“ This can result in no ultimate good,” said 
Robert to the scout, as they walked into town. 
•“ Mystification leaves a wound in the best hearts. 
Better even to openly seize power than to make 
them act the fool’s part in a farce.” 

“ Oh, bosh !” cried Bludger, stopping at the cor- 
ner of Court Square. “You surely don’t measure 
negroes by the standard of white men, do you? 
Why, they have little mind and no heart. Rest 
assured the sting of resentment will not remain. 
Good-night.” 

“You are mistaken,” answered Magruder, ear- 
nestly. “Last night at the Dangerous Crossing I 
saw — ” 

“Oh, spare us the description!” cried the scout, 
with a grimace, and, laughing, he turned, and 
walked rapidly toward his office. Robert followed 
a few steps ; but then, feeling that his information 
was rejected and that he was forced in courtesy to be 
silent, he entered the causeway leading to his home. 


Ii6 


WILD ROCK, 


CHAPTER XIII. 

Oh! the roast beef of old England, 

And oh! the old English roast beef.” 

The Roast Beef of Old England. 

S NOW-TURRETED castle-clouds floated in 
the rich blue of a bright November sky, and 
their chasing shadows followed each other over the 
many-colored forest and across the field where the 
old school-house stood under the yellow-leafed elm. 
Since dawn a great ox, flanked with lambs and 
porkers, had been cooking over hickory-bark coals 
in a pit dug for the purpose, and long tables, con- 
structed with forked boughs and rough pine planks, 
now formed a quadrangle about this kitchen of the 
barbecue. 

People were flocking to the scene from all direc- 
tions. Ladies came in carriages, gayly dressed, 
with baskets of knickknacks ; men on horseback 
and on foot. Carts loaded with bread and cakes 
creaked onward toward the field. Negroes in 
troops came riding their patient mules. A few 
Indians strolled up with their bows and baskets; 
and the field assumed the appearance of a market- 
scene at Bombay. 


WILD ROCK. 


1 17 

Old Magruder was everywhere, reading from his 
tablets and directing th& arrangements of his feast. 
Guileless old man! He never dreamed that the 
victory was other than the black men’s work re- 
sponding to his conciliatory views. Welcoming 
each cluster of arrivals, the good old man expati- 
ated with bright eye and glowing smile upon the 
success of his method, and pointed out the excel- 
lences of his barbecue. 

About noon the editor drove up in a spring- 
wagon, which carried a large hamper held steady 
by the efforts of Madam Frogg; and when the 
cloth covering was removed it proved to contain 
fried cat-fish. Robert was standing with Eustace 
near ; and seeing the amphibians’ cargo, he called 
to old Magruder, “The river delegation has ar- 
rived. Suppose we begin operations.” 

“Ah! Robin,” said the happy old Scotchman, 
^‘wait a bit, until a’ the black folk coom!” 

“Meister Eustace,” he added, turning to this 
gentleman, “do ye na’ like my plan — is’t na’ ane 
great success, noo ?” 

“If you can remove the instinctive mutual aver- 
sion of the classes,” answered Eustace, “you will 
accomplish a great work, for two antagonistic 
races with equal power cannot continue to exist.” 

The old Scotchman went off smiling, tablets in 
hand, to another group ; but Cecil, who had just 


ii8 


WILD ROCK. 


left his daughter, approached and said, “ Suppose^ 
Mr. Eustace, that they will not be reconciled, these 
races, what then ?” 

“ Then,” answered Eustace, “ they should be sep- 
arated By constitutional amendment disfranchise 
the whites in a State set apart to the negroes, and 
disfranchise the blacks in the white States.” 

“They would not go,” said Cecil; “and if carried 
to the negro State, they would come back to 
us.” 

“ Laboring men, the dependent part of the race, 
the best part for your purposes, would return,” 
said Eustace, “but the ambitious, pushing, intellec- 
tual ones would go where they could work out 
their political fortunes.” 

“ Suppose the antagonism were removed,” asked 
Robert, “ what would ultimately result ?” 

“Amalgamation, undoubtedly,” answered Eus- 
tace; “without this, permanent peace is impossible. 
Ireland is torn with orange and green badges; but 
the badges here are not removable, except by 
mingling the colors.” 

“Haw! yaw! yaw! haw!” cried Madam Frogg, 
waddling away. “By my hallidome! a most im- 
proper speech from a single young man! Froggie, 
darling, distribute the poultry.” 

“You know,” she added, addressing Laura, who 
was superintending the removal of some cake from 


WILD ROCK. 1 19 

a basket, “we at the Empire City call the little 
fishes in the river our poultry.” 

The scout had not appeared in the field. Know- 
ing as he did the true source of the victory, he felt 
no respect for the old Scotchman’s method. En- 
tering the court-house this morning, where they 
were formally revising the vote from the boxes of 
the county, he heard a smart looking mulatto say 
to another that the negro inspectors had been de- 
ceived, and Bludger should be held responsible. 
Nothing like alarm influenced the captain, but he 
was surprised at the intelligence which the negroes 
displayed. In fact, he began to think he had un- 
derrated his antagonists. He cared nothing for 
committing a crime, but he would have an unmiti- 
gated contempt for himself if he were caught. So 
the scout sat in an upper window of the court- 
house, smoking, and looking out at the scene in 
the field. 

When a sagacious man commits an error after 
fully considering his course, it results from igno- 
rance of an essential element in the problem which 
he has to solve. This was Bludger’s case. Had 
Robert told him of the scene at the Dangerous 
Crossing, he might have been warned. But the 
young man had been forced to keep this to himself. 
So the scout blundered, and the result was a great 
disaster. 


120 


WILD ROCK. 


The day had nearly sped and the sun was far in 
the west, when Bludger, looking across the field 
into the forest beyond, saw or thought he saw 
dusky forms flitting among the undergrowth. He 
was about to descend and warn the company now 
dining at the tables. But, gazing more intently, he 
was persuaded that what he had observed were only 
shadows in the woods caused by the declining sun. 

Several negro men were standing under the elm- 
trees conversing excitedly, when a young man 
named Swain, who was studying law in Eustace’s 
office, approached, and one of them, the same 
mulatto who attracted Bludger’s notice in the 
morning, exclaimed, “Never will we get our rights, 
until we do like the Indians — pick off a white man 
for every wrong.” 

“Keep quiet, sir,” cried Swain, approaching and 
taking the negro by the collar, “ or leave the 
field.” 

The mulatto’s answer was a blow. Staggering 
back, the youth drew his revolver and fired. A 
negro returned the shot: and, like magic, firearms 
were discharged all over the field. 

The blacks — men, women, and children — fled in a 
dense mass to the woods, and a few white men 
pursued, firing in the air. It was a reckless stam- 
pede. But just as the whites approached the line 
of low bushes over which the negroes had scam- 


IVILD ROCK. 


I2I 


pered, a hundred dark forms rose before them, 
headed by the Congo chief. 

With a savage howl, these Congos rushed from 
their ambuscade upon the white men, who now, in 
turn, broke and fled. The negro men, a thousand 
strong, fell in behind them, and the black mass pur- 
sued the scattered whites over the field. 

At the first shot, Robert had walked rapidly to 
the tables, where old Magruder was with the ladies, 
and around these he now gathered some of the fu- 
gitives, and with Eustace, who had remained there, 
formed a square. Into this he put the females, 
and drawing his revolver, faced, like a lion at bay, 
the' approaching host of blacks. 

On they came like an avalanche. Wild Rock, the 
Congo, stalked in front brandishing an enormous 
club, his face inflamed with savage war. Seeing 
Robert and this determined band, the chief smiled 
and, with a lofty salute, passed on, followed by his 
host, after less formidable victims. 

The valiant editor retreated at the opening of 
hostilities, but unfortunately, deceived by the early 
success of his friends, stopped, and viewed the bat- 
tle from afar. Now he was appalled at the ap- 
proach of the enemy at the heels of his fleeing 
friends ; and thinking only of escape, he crept into 
a Cherokee-rose hedge. The ostrich, it is said, 
sometimes hides itself in the sand, but leaves its 


122 


WILD ROCK. 


tail exposed to betray its hiding-place to pursuers. 
Unhappy Frogg! He imitated the bird: and a 
moment later the Congo seized the projecting leg 
and dragged the editor into light. Clutching the 
little man by the back, the chief lifted him and 
turned him about as one might a toad. Then, with 
a contemptuous “Ugh, Frogg!” he threw him inta 
the midst of the hedge and strode onward. 

Heedless of the briers which pierced his limbs, 
the amphibian thankfully struggled out upon the 
opposite side of the hedge and ran as fast as his 
limber legs would carry him, until safe within the 
walls of the Empire City. The next issue of the 
Big Black Crow., in describing the riot, announced 
that while the editor claimed no reward for the 
part which he took in the fray, yet he called atten- 
tion to the numerous wounds that he received 
while struggling in behalf of liberty. 

When the black host had passed, Robert moved 
his square slowly toward the town. Signs of vio- 
lence met them at every step. At the edge of the 
field a young farmer’s body lay mutilated. A mer- 
chant was found in his yard, shot through the 
head. Just as they approached Court Square, 
flames burst out of five of the frame stores, and 
the night, which had now set in darkly, was lit 
with the glare of the conflagration. 

The scout at this moment coming from the court- 


WILD ROCK. 


123 


house met Wild Rock, face to face, on the green. 
Bludger started; but, instantly realizing that the 
form before him was no apparition, he remained 
motionless, awaiting the event. The chief bounded 
toward him with a yell of rage, raised his war-club, 
and then paused. If the scout had offered any 
resistance, the Congo would certainly have brained 
him where he stood. But Bludger did not move. 

“Coward!” hissed the chief, and slapped the 
scout’s face. 

Still Bludger stood motionless, and Wild Rock, 
sated with slaughter, contemptuously turned away, 
and stalked after his people into the black town, 
back of the court-house. Had he turned his head, 
the look of vindictive hate which the scout threw 
after him would have recalled the Congo to an act 
of blood; but, looking neither to right nor left, he 
strode onward into the village where his people 
dwelt. 

With the aid of Eustace, young Magruder now 
led his charge into the court-house, and, barring 
the doors, stationed sentries at the windows and 
on the balconies. In half an hour he felt that he 
could hold this position against any force which 
the negroes could bring to the attack. But just as 
he was beginning to congratulate himself, Eustace 
approached him, pale and harried, and announced 
that Laura could not be found. 


124 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

“ Methinks her patient sons before me stand 
Where the broad ocean leans against the land.” 

The Traveller. 

B lack and cheerless was the night. A wintry 
drizzling sleet was blown hither and thither 
by the shifting winds that whistled around the 
angles and howled through the long halls of the 
court-house. The dark clouds shone with a dull 
red glare from the dying embers of the burned 
stores. Within the building an expectant silence 
was unbroken save by the tread of the sentries 
or the low hum of a group here and there in 
anxious conversation. 

The scout and Eustace were standing with 
Robert on a balcony overlooking the black town. 
All was dark and silent there. But the occasional 
flash of a gun, or a shout, indicated that the 
negroes had not departed. 

“We must weaken our garrison,” said Robert, 
scanning the black heap of hovels, indistinguish- 
able in such a night. “ A messenger must go to the 
hills ; ” and he looked significantly at the scout. 

The latter probably failed to notice the appeal 
in the darkness, for he said, laughing coarsely. 


WILD ROCK. 125 

‘‘Where is the fool to attempt it, in the face of 
yonder devils on a night like this ?” 

“I shall search for Laura,” said Eustace, de- 
cidedly. Robert smiled, and said, “ I intended to 
ask that, for my own presence is necessary here.” 

Swain, who happened to be guarding this 
balcony, now stepped forward and said, “ By 
going out the opposite gate I can get into the 
swamp undiscovered ; and I will undertake the 
trip to the hills.” 

“Let ’em out! Let ’em go !” hoarsely laughed 
the scout. “ Eustace, if your heads come back on 
poles, we’ll give*you first-class funerals.” 

A few moments later, the great nail-studded 
oak door of the main hall was unbarred, and the 
four men stood listening behind it. 

“ Eustace,” said Robert, handing him a revolver, 
“take this pistol. You are doubtless unarmed, as 
usual.” 

“ Thank you, no,” said Eustace, quietly pushing 
away the weapon, “ I will cut a stout hickory from 
the next thicket, and this will afford me ample 
protection.” 

“But you may be ambushed !” said the scout. 

“In that event,” replied Eustace, “the pistol 
would be useless.” 

“But if you are attacked.?” queried Robert. 

“ I shall defend myself with the stick,” answered 


126 


WILD ROCK. 


Eustace. “ I am, however, sure neither will happen. 
In my stay here I have learned enough of the 
negro character to believe that they are now 
frightened at their own work, and are thinking 
more of how to hide themselves than of attacking 
any one.” 

“ By St. George !” cried the scout, “ I see your 
head coming back to us now, Eustace. But rest 
assured we will avenge you !” 

“Now go, and fortune favor you !” cried 
Robert, as he swung open the door. 

The two men darted into the night together, 
and the door closed. Swain, turning to the right, 
leaped the fence and ran quickly into the swamp. 
Eustace, on the contrary, walked deliberately to 
his office, unlocked the door, and changed his 
shoes for a pair of heavy boots. Reappearing, he 
took the main causeway in the direction of Ma- 
gruder’s residence. He cut the bough at the first 
thicket, as he had said, and used it as a walking- 
stick, and he moved at a brisk step along the 
middle of the road. 

An hour’s walk carried him to Magruder’s 
house. All was still. The young man walked 
around the building first and examined ; for while 
he felt confident that the negroes would not at- 
tack him on the open ground, he did not wish to 
encounter them unexpectedly in the dwelling. 


WILD ROCK. 


12 / 


Nothing rewarded his search, and he therefore 
tried the front door. It was locked. Eustace had 
supposed that Laura, when she found herself 
separated from her friends, might have taken the 
carriage and gone home. This was not the case, 
and the conviction now forced itself upon him that 
she was lost. 

Heavy breathing now attracted his attention. 
There on the dark gallery he was beginning to 
lose some of his calmness. Was this Laura? — 
perhaps she was hurt ! A hairy thing pressed 
against his hand, and then a cold moist spot. 
The young man laughed aloud. It was Bracken’s 
nose. On leaving, the family had chained the dog 
to one of the big posts to prevent his troublesome 
frolics at the barbecue, as well as to have a guard 
at the house ; and the Newfoundland, after watch- 
ing the eccentric manoeuvres of his friend Eustace 
for some time, had begun to think that he might 
be on burglary bent, and, not to be so rude as to 
bark on mere suspicion, he adopted this method of 
making his presence known. 

The young man unchained the dog, and at- 
tempted to call him away from the house. But a 
difference in views occurred here between the con- 
tracting parties. Bracken declined to abandon his 
post. Eustace, however, began crying, “ Laura 
lost ; find Laura, Bracken !” and his dogship so 


128 


WILD ROCK. 


addressed, after apparently considering the matter 
a while, gave a last look at the door to see that 
the house was safe, and started off down the car- 
riage-road, followed by Eustace. The pace was 
brisk, but Bracken now and then would stop and 
wait for his companion, who by this means was 
enabled to keep within hearing distance. 

When they reached the field of the barbecue, 
the dog ran this way and that, sniffing the ground, 
until he stopped by a spring-wagon. This, then, 
was Magruder’s vehicle, and both Doc Cole and 
the horses were gone. Laura was certainly now 
lost. The dog meantime had gone into the cop- 
pice, and began to yelp and bark. Eustace fol- 
lowed him with anxiety,' which increased to alarm 
as Bracken emitted a doleful howl. The young 
man’s agitation was not diminished when the 
dog brought in its mouth a tress of the lost girl’s 
long golden hair. 

“Bracken,” said Eustace, sitting down in the 
thicket and wiping the rising moisture from his 
eyes, “is poor Laura dead ?” 

The dog uttered a long dismal howl. Then 
jumping about, with a succession of quick, short 
barks, he darted off through the swamp. Eustace 
followed the sound, now struggling through a 
morass, now climbing among the cypress-knees, 
or entangled in vines, until, just as morning 


WILD ROCK, 129 

dawned, he found himself plump up against an 
earthen bank twenty feet high. 

^‘The levee, Bracken!” he cried; ‘‘what does this 
mean ?” 

But the dog mounted the embankment and, 
pausing a moment on the top, darted down to the 
river’s edge, and standing there gave another 
dolorous howl. The young man approached the 
water: and there in the early light, just where 
Bracken stood, he saw the tracks of two little 
boots. Had she plunged into the river ? No, here 
was the print of a canoe ; Laura had left here in a 
boat. 

Nothing that would float was in sight, and 
further pursuit. was therefore impossible. Eustace 
reluctantly retraced his steps toward the court- 
house, intending to obtain a boat and further 
aid, and go upon the river after the missing lady. 

The sun was rising as he entered the town, and 
a martial sight met his view. Swain’s errand was 
accomplished. The hill-men had come. Three 
hundred guns were now stacked in Court Square; 
as many horses were fastened to the trees and 
fences; and the men were lounging about the 
halls of the court-house or looking at the ruins 
of the town. Before the young man reached the 
Square, two more squadrons, as large, galloped 
in upon the other causeways. 


130 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER XV. 

“ A hollow oak our palace is, 

Our heritage the sea.” 

A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea. 

W HEN the shooting commenced at the 
barbecue, Laura was near the thicket, 
whither she went in quest of Bessie. This lady 
had been sportively placed under her care by 
Cecil when he left the field before dinner on a 
business visit to the Capital. She did not find her 
ward, and was about returning, when the mass of 
panic-stricken negroes came, and carried her with 
them into the woods. The advance of the men, 
which immediately succeeded, left her in the 
forest surrounded by black women and children. 
At first she felt no uneasiness, but soon the angry 
looks of her companions began to excite alarm. 

An ugly black amazon approached and, putting 
her arms akimbo, stared into the lady’s face. 
Laura, assuming a composure which she did not 
feel, said to the creature, in a tone of dignified 
command, “ Show me to Mr. Magruder’s wagon, 
my woman.” 

“ Yer ’uman !” cried the virago, scornfully; ‘‘who 


WILD ROCK, 


I3I 

is you to order folks? I’ll ’uman yer !” Turn- 
ing to the others, who had approached and stood 
with threatening gestures awing the poor girl, the 
negress cried, “ Chillun, what mus’ we do wid ’er?” 

“ Kill de hussy !” shouted twenty shrill voices. 

Kill ’er ! Kill ’er !” 

Laura, gentle girl, whose nerves had never been 
subjected to greater tension than the excitement 
of a deer-drive, was appalled at this threat, and 
sinking to the ground, covered her face with her 
hands. 

“ Cut her froat ! Off wid her head !” cried sev- 
eral of the shrill tones. 

The women crowded around the girl’s prostrate 
form, and the black amazon, drawing a long sharp 
knife, knelt beside her. The lady’s long golden 
hair had fallen about her beautiful neck, and the 
virago, seizing a handful of the silken strands, 
severed them with the keen blade. Throwing the 
soft hair aside, she raised the glittering knife ; 
but, looking up, her arm remained suspended in 
the air. 

A creature lovelier than Laura now stood in the 
circle of women. Her fairy-like form bore a 
queenly air, and her great almond eyes flashed as, 
stamping with her tiny foot, she cried, “Back! 
What mean ye ? Dare ye disgrace the triumph of 
Wild Rock ?” 


132 


WILD ROCK, 


Dropping her knife, the amazon hurried into the 
crowd. The women recoiled, leaving a wide space 
around the unconscious lady’s form, and the beau- 
tiful apparition, stooping, raised her gently in her 
arms. Shaking her long wavy hair in a sheen 
over Laura, the queenly fairy stamped her little 
foot again, and in rich silvery tones exclaimed, 
“ Be gone !” Waving a tiny, childish hand like 
alabaster, she cried, “ Away, or I shall put that on 
ye which will follow ye to death !” 

The negroes disappeared in the swamp, and the 
new-comer, laying Laura on the grass, began chaf- 
ing her temples, and rubbing her arms. It was 
dusk when the shock had worn off enough for 
Laura to sit up, supported by a tree. She now 
opened her blue eyes and gazed into the dark orbs 
of her preserver; and the two maidens smiled 
at each other. 

“It is growing late,” murmured the dark lady, 
in soft, dove-like accents. “ Can you walk ?” 

Laura, assisted by her companion, arose, and 
they proceeded along a narrow path through the 
forest. Darkness came, and the wind whistled 
among the great swaying trees. Rain dashed 
coldly in their faces. But the good fairy knew the 
path well, and never lost her footing in the night. 
Encouraging Laura, and aiding her now and then, 
the little creature stopped at last under a huge 


WILD ROCK. 133 

old cottonwood-tree, whose limbs, covered with in- 
terlacing vines, made a perfect tent. 

“This is my summer-house,” said the fairy; 
“but it is not good for cold nights. Wait here 
a moment.” The dark lady disappeared and 
Laura sat down at the root of the tree. Soon the 
rain ceased; and the lady, returning, threw a 
shawl about Laura, and said, “ Come, now, and 
follow me.” 

A few steps carried them to the levee. Beyond 
this they found a small bark canoe. Seating 
Laura in the boat, her companion followed, as she 
stepped in pushing it from the shore with her 
little foot. A slender mast was raised, the tiny 
sail, moistened by the rain, caught the breeze, and 
the boat glided like a swan over the flowing river. 

A thousand stars reflected from the clearing sky 
danced upon the white-capped waves. Birds on 
the leafy shore sang welcome to a rising moon. 
And Laura, warm in her cosey wraps, fell into a 
gentle sleep. 

When she awoke, the boat was moored in a 
small inlet, hidden by grassy banks covered with 
foliage, and in a soft moonlight the darkly beau- 
tiful features of the fairy girl were bending over her. 

“Come,” she murmured in soft accents and 
with a gentle smile, “another step and we are 
safe !” 


134 


WILD ROCK. 


“Who is my preserver?” asked Laura. “Tell 
me, that I may love the generous being to vrhom I 
owe my life.” 

The smile faded, and a shadow came over the 
now pensive face. “ A nameless woman,” she 
answered sadly, “whom you must not know — of a 
proscribed race that you cannot love. Come, I 
lead you to safety.” 

Laura arose and followed. Approaching a 
great oak in a wood near by, the mysterious guide 
touched a spring, and a door opened. They en- 
tered the hollow tree, and descending a winding 
stair, stood in a narrow and long but elegant 
apartment. The ceiling and walls were of quaint- 
ly carved wood and tastefully gilded. The floor 
was covered with Brussels carpet. Glittering 
chandeliers hung from above. Costly furniture 
was arranged in apparent confusion with bear- 
skins, and stuffed serpents, and the enormous ver- 
tebrae of antediluvian sea-monsters. An eagle 
perched above the door flapped its great wings 
and flew to meet the fair stranger. 

Approaching a marble-like column that stood 
in the centre of the room, the dark lady drew 
from an embossed silver urn an aromatic liquid, 
in appearance like coffee, and giving the draught 
to her visitor, she smiled kindly and said, “Drink!” 

Laura drank; and as she handed back the 


TVILD ROCK. 


135 


cup, the lights grew dark before her, and she sank 
into deep slumber. Gently raising her fair form, 
the unknown bore her to one of the many doors 
that opened into this long hall, and entering, laid 
her on a soft, warm couch. Then returning, the 
dark lady took from the case a guitar, and, sitting 
near a fire of bark-coals which burned on a hearth 
made of zinc and covered with clay, she touched the 
strings ; and ere long the rich, clear musical notes 
of this almond-eyed girl filled the long hall and re- 
sounded through the arches of the cavern in a 
song as wildly mournful as the sad story of her 
life. 


136 


WILD ROCK, 


CHAPTER XVI. 


**Two souls with but a single thought, 
Two hearts that beat as one.” 


Ingomar^ the Barbarian. 


CHOES of the song lingered in the cave-like 



apartment, when a firm tread descended the 
stairway, and Wild Rock strode across the carpet 
and sat upon a bear-skin near the fire. The Congo 
sat in silence, and his harsh features wore an ex- 
pression of melancholy. At last he looked toward 
the dreamily mournful girl. 

“Daughter of my sister’s child,” he said in his 
native language, “ Wild Rock is a warrior !” 

The harsh Bornoo words, which are translated 
for the gentle reader’s convenience, became musi- 
cal when uttered by the girl. 

“ Why is the warrior sad ?” she asked, rising 
and approaching the chief. 

“My people are afraid,” he answered, his dark 
face working with grief and scorn. “ They looked 
on the white men, and have hidden themselves.” 

“ Chief, they will come forth again,” said the girl, 
laying her hand on his shoulder, “ and choose you 
ruler after the white man’s way.” 


WILD ROCK, 


137 


“ The Congo needs no choice !” exclaimed the 
harsh voice of the chief ; “ Wild Rock is a prince !” 

Rising, he looked at his companion, and pointing 
upward, he said, in the deep gutterals of his Koruru 
tongue: “When an acorn held the oak above us, 
Wild Rock played by the broad Zaire River, about 
the door of a king. Traitors dethroned the chief 
and sold his family to the white men. But the 
king’s son served no master. This river rose like 
the Congo, and the young prince let their dirt-bank 
wash away. Fools ! They thought the chief was 
buried in the water. As well drown the crocodile 
in the marshes of Darbanda!” 

The girl was silent, looking up into the old war- 
rior’s working face. Gazing straight before him 
into vacancy, unobservant of the fair creature, he 
again broke forth in harsh deep tones : “ The young 
oak I brought from the woods and planted on the 
island which the wrecked boat was making. It 
grew ; and I said. The King of the wild wood, 
though transplanted, yet lives. But I looked, and 
its heart was dead. Child of my kinswoman, the 
forest monarch totters to his fall !” 

So deep and stern were the old chieftain’s last 
words that the girl shuddered, and listened, almost 
expecting to hear the hollow oak crashing above 
their home. The old man looked down into her 
frightened eyes, and sadly smiled. 


138 


WILD ROCK. 


“Little of the Koruru is in you, child. You be- 
long rather to the whites. Better, perhaps, had I 
left you with them to practise the peaceful arts you 
had learned. But I would not see the white man 
served by the daughter of a king.” 

“Yet have you made me happy here,” answered 
the girl’s musical accents, and she sighed. “Am I 
not a queen among your people ?” 

The old man’s voice was soft and his manner 
gentle as he answered, “ When I am gone, Marie, 
do not forsake the poor creatures. Work out for 
them a happiness which I could not achieve.” 

The girl smiled in the old chieftain’s face, and 
gently asked, “ Am I greater than Wild Rock ?” 

“ In your influence stronger, my daughter,” an- 
swered the old negro, seriously, “because you are 
of the double race. But your fate must be joined 
with the destiny of a white leader. To-day on the 
field I saw them all : Frogg, the reptile ; Cecil, the 
graceful panther ; Eustace, the stag ; and the jackal 
scout. But one only is worthy of my princess — 
the young lion, Magruder !” 

“Father,” said Marie, rising and standing before 
the old man, “ Robert Magruder is truly the lion 
of his race, and fitted to command ; but how know 
you that he would unite his destiny with that of a 
poor negro girl ?” 

The chief looked sternly for a moment at the 


WILD ROCK, 


139 


graceful form before him, and then a kind, proud 
smile spread over his wrinkled face. “ Because he 
has seen thee, daughter,” he said. “ In thine own 
land, my princess, kings would seek thy hand.” 

“ But, father,” said the girl, trembling, “great is 
their hatred of commingling with our race. If the 
young Magruder should refuse to espouse the 
cause ?” 

“Then, woman,” said the old chieftain, rising to 
his commanding height and throwing back his 
grizzled head, “shout the Voodoo hymn, and lead 
my suffering people out from the land of bondage !” 

The girl’s face was resplendent ; her graceful 
form expanded and her dark eyes beamed with a 
noble light as, raising a chiselled hand on high, she 
said, in low, rich musical tones, “By greater than 
Voodoo rites, my father, I swear that when a leader 
like^Moses appears, Miriam shall not be wanting !” 

Proudly the old chief gazed for a time at the 
young enthusiast, and then, sitting upon the 
bear-skin couch again, he relapsed into thought- 
ful silence. 

Afterward Marie told in her soft low tones of the 
rescue of Laura. The old man listened with a far- 
off look, and the savage lines in his rough face 
softened into a tender smile. When the girl ceased 
speaking, he turned toward her gently. 

“My child,” he said, “glad am I that you saved 


140 


WILD ROCK. 


the lady. To-morrow early take her back to her 
home. Greatly I fear that I did too much this day. 
But it was hard to see my people wronged. Would 
that the life of an old throneless king could atone 
for the evil ! Freely would Wild Rock lay his 
down.” 

Wrapping his head in a fur that lay near him, 
the chieftain reclined on the bear-skin, and Marie, 
drawing some coals to his feet, retired to one of the 
state-rooms. In a few moments nothing was awake 
in the boat-cabin save the eagle, which, seated on its 
perch, gazed upon the form of the barbarian king. 


WILD ROCK. 


141 


CHAPTER XVII. 

“Scion of chiefs and monarchs, where art thou?” 

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. 

W HEN Wiley Eustace entered the square, he 
pressed rapidly through the crowd to the 
court-house. A young man of mild appearance 
sauntered in the hall, and approaching, half raised 
his drooping lids and directed toward the mud- 
stained arrival a look of languid inquiry. Receiv- 
ing no answer from Eustace, who was pushing by, 
the youthful exquisite softly opened his dark eyes, 
and articulated, ‘‘Want see puty guls ? Want see 
cap’ns ? ” 

“ Who are you ?” asked Eustace, impatiently. “ I 
have a report.” 

“ Cap’n Tock — on guard,” purred the soft-man- 
nered youth, and, slowly rolling his mild eyes, he 
pointed them to a door, murmuring, “ Puty guls,” 
and then toward another, sighing, “ Cap’ns.” Eus- 
tace opened the latter, and confronted General 
McMack. 

“Ah ha!” cried the little man. “Welcome, wel- 
come! We’re at a council of war. Advance and 


142 


n^/LD ROCK. 


see the colonels — big colonels, all the best in the 
world !” 

Ushered into the room by the smiling and bowing 
little gray-head, Eustace found himself in presence 
of the scout and Robert, who were apparently de- 
bating some proposition. Near them stood Alex 
Norman and a stranger. The latter, a fierce, mili- 
tary-looking little man, with high-top boots which 
he wore over his pantaloons, and enormous mus- 
tache which he was twirling savagely, advanced and 
exclaimed, “ How now, door-keeper ! Who’s this 
intruder, be gar !” 

“ Mr. Eustace — Colonel Jinks ! Colonel Jinks — 
Mr. Eustace !” smiled the little gray-head, bobbing 
about. 

“I return from an expedition with my report,” 
said Eustace, quietly. Who commands here ?” 

Robert now observed them, and approaching 
Eustace with an anxious and careworn face, he 
asked, “ Where is Laura ?” 

The explanation was given, and Magruder at once 
insisted that the men should march to the point on 
the river where Eustace saw the tracks. Bludger 
objected, and urged that the object of the expedi- 
tion was to intimidate the negroes, and that the 
main body at least should make a detour through 
the country under his sole orders. Moreover, he 
professed to have little confidence in the dog’s dis- 


WILD ROCK. 


143 


covery, and thought it probable that the young lady 
had never left the woods. Colonel Jinks thought so 
too, and insisted that “the noble scout, be gar!” 
should have full command. 

'Norman sided with Robert, and Eustace expressed 
decidedly the same views. But Jinks and the 
scout were firm, and ultimately it was settled that 
their parties should divide, Magruder, with as many 
men as chose to follow him, going to the river, and 
the scout leading the remainder. Breakfast, which 
was now announced, afforded the fierce little col- 
onel, with “Cap’n Tock” and other emisaries of 
Bludger, a chance to talk among the men ; and, 
when the choice was offered them afterward, Nor- 
man was disgusted to see his own Foresters go 
with the scout. In fact, Eustace, Norman, and 
Magruder set out together with no follower save 
old Bracken. 

These three, with the dog, walked over the Big 
Road to the river, and taking a skiff proceeded down 
the stream toward the place where the tracks were 
seen. A great bend here in the stream made a pe- 
ninsula. At the upper side of this was the county 
town, and at the lower the Empire City. The tracks 
were in the middle of the bend, half-way between 
these places. So like an ox-bow was this bend 
that boats consumed two hours in steaming from 
the flat-boat to the county-town landing, while a 


144 


WILD ROCK. 


buggy on the causeway could cross the neck in thirty 
minutes. 

The sturdy oars pulled by Norman and Robert 
carried the boat down the swift current, in which 
Eustace, as coxswain, was careful to steer, faster 
than a steamer would ordinarily ascend the river; 
and they were almost off the point when a sharp 
volley of rifles resounded from the woods. 

“ What is that ?” asked Eustace, hastily. 

“ From the start I have feared a massacre of the 
negroes,” answered Robert, ‘‘and I believe it has 
now begun.” 

“Why on earth did you no‘t tell me?” exclaimed 
Norman. “ Had I dreamed of such a thing, the 
Foresters should not have gone with the scout.” 

Dense smoke now arose here and there upon the 
peninsula, curling above the trees. 

“ Look !” cried Robert, “ they are burning the 
negroes’ cabins.” 

The skiff rounded the point, and went down with 
the current until the wharf-boat was passed, and 
the island came into view. Bracken now showed 
signs of uneasiness, and as they approached the 
island he jumped out and swam ashore. 

At this moment another volley of rifles was 
heard from the mainland, and Eustace, looking 
back, exclaimed, “ They are following us !” 

“ Yes,” answered Magruder, gazing in the same 


WILD ROCK, 145 

direction. “But, meantime, the scout has done a 
great wrong yonder.” 

A boat now approached, containing the scout, 
with Jinks and Tock and a number of their men. 

“ By St. George ! ” cried Bludger across the 
water, “ we know where the stray lambkin is 
hid. Wild Rock has her on yonder island. Cole 
disgorged the whole plot to save his black 
hide !” 

“What have you done to the negroes?” asked 
Robert, sternly. 

“ Hoity toity ! What now ?” cried the scout. 
“ By St. George !, this youth’s capacity for digest- 
ing stray lambkin is diminished by a few bullet- 
holes.” 

Robert turned away in disgust, and at his signal 
the boat shot toward the island. Eustace leapt 
ashore, and following the dog, reached the oak- 
tree. One blow broke in the bark door, and 
descending the stairway, he confronted the Conga 
chief. 

Laura and Marie stood in the rear, arrayed 
for setting out to the former’s home. Before 
them stood Wild Rock, grasping a cocked pistol. 
An ominous frown was on the old chief’s face. But 
as Robert quickly followed Eustace, Marie threw 
her fair form between them, and the Congo 
smiled. 


146 


WILD ROCK. 


Here the contest would have ended had not the 
scout now come down the stairway, followed by his 
wild rout. Aiming his revolver over Robert’s shoul- 
der he fired, and Wild Rock fell. A look of fierce 
hatred came into the chieftain’s face, and he covered 
Bludger with his pistol. Then seeing that he must 
kill Magruder to reach his enemy, the Congo let 
his weapon fall. Blood spouted from an artery 
near his heart; and slowly sinking, the old man said, 
in his broken English, “ Bewar de nake hind you, 
Magruder — dat reptile — ting — you — to — death !” 

A film spread over the chieftain’s eyes. The 
grizzled head sank upon the carpet. Wild Rock 
was dead ! 


WILD ROCK, 


14; 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

Wheel the wild dance 
While lightnings glance 
And thunders rattle loud. 
And call the brave 
To bloody grave, 

To sleep without a shroud.” 


The Dance of Death. 



HEN Wild Rock fell, as described, Marie 


» * ran to his prostrate form, and taking his 
head in her arms, bent over the dead chief. 
Bludger was aiming to shoot again. But Robert 
Magruder turned upon him and sternly said. 
You have done harm enough. Leave!” 

The scout hesitated, but, observing something in 
the young man’s eye which he cared not to brave, 
he turned about and, muttering, ascended the 
stair. At the broken door stood Norman, with a 
frown on his swarthy brow. 

^‘Come, boys,” cried the scout, as he stepped 
from the hollow tree, “ the old bear is dead. Let’s 
hunt the cubs!” 

“Mr. Bludger, I command the Foresters!” said a 
deep, stern voice behind him; and turning, he con- 
fronted the dark-eyed giant. 

“My men are not murderers,” said Norman. 


148 


WILD ROCK. 


“If you are minded to hunt sheep and call them 
bears, do so, but without our aid.’" 

“Foresters, fall into line,” cried Alex, and a few 
minutes after he wa.s conducting his command in 
boats to the shore, whence he marched them im- 
mediately to their homes. 

The section of Foresters who were on the island 
left the scout by the river with Colonel Jinks, 
Captain Tock, and a few kindred spirits; and these, 
taking to their boat, soon reunited with a motley 
crew on the mainland. 

In the sunken boat-cabin, after the scout’s de- 
parture, a striking scene was presented. Laura 
stood between her brother and Eustace, and Marie 
bent over the dead chief. Her long waving hair 
mingled with his grizzled wool, hiding her beauti- 
ful face. No sound escaped her, but her attitude 
was the picture of woe. 

“ We cannot leave the girl,” said Magruder. 
“ Sister, ask her to come. I will see that the old 
man’s body — ” 

“ Go!” said Marie, turning to them a face marked 
with unutterable grief. “ Go!” she repeated, in a 
hard, hopeless tone. “ Let the slave bury his own 
dead !” 

They retired at her bidding, and soon Laura was 
being rowed over the river by her companions. 

As the island slowly sank into the wave behind 


WILD ROCK. 


149 


the moving boat, a faint blue smoke curled ^bove 
its trees. A bateau shot out from the willows on 
the mainland. Another and another followed. 
Soon the broad river was dotted with little boats, 
converging toward the signal. 

Late in the afternoon a strange flotilla went up 
the river. Hundreds of bateaux rowed by black 
men were locked in a dense mass about a barge. 
On this a bed was made of green boughs, and the 
body of the Congo chief, crowned with oak-leaves, 
lay on this bier. A wild, plaintive dirge rose from 
the cortege, keeping time with the oarage of their 
brawny arms. 

The sobbing wind seemed wailing a people’s 
grief, and the storm’s artillery firing random guns, 
as the sun, like a great fireball, plunged into a 
black pile of western clouds, and the quick light- 
ning flashed the approach of a tempest. 

The flotilla landed, and the black men carried 
the bier into a log-hut. Night and the storm 
approached together. Through the tempest the 
Congos came to perform their wild funeral rites. 
Each carried a dry pine-branch, which he flung by 
the dead chief’s body. A circle was formed about 
the bier, and in every pause of the wailing wind, 
through all the dark hours of the storm, arose the 
steady tramp, tramp of their horrible dance of 
death. 


WILD ROCK. 


150 

Later a line of dark figures marched around the 
hovel bearing pine-knot torches. The red glare lit 
up their swarthy savage features. Circling the 
pyre thrice, they whirled the blazing fagots about 
their heads and threw them into the pile of dry 
branches. 

An instant all was dark, then fire-tongues licked 
the cabin. Here and there black smoke poured 
through the thatched roof, followed by a sheet of 
flame. The tempest flashed and thundered, the 
negroes wailed and sobbed : and under the weird 
arches of the forest burned Wild Rock’s funeral- 


pyre. 


WILD ROCK 


fl ©ALE OP ©WO Seasons 


By WANDERER 




ComCy gentle Spring! ethereal mildness^ come'* 


NEW YORK 

PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR 


Copyright, 1884 
By THOMAS BLEYLER 



The Chas. M. Green Printing Co 
74 and 76 Beekman Street 


NEW YORK 


WILD ROCK. 


A TALE OF TWO SEASONS. 


SPRING 


CHAPTER I. 


“ The lamest cripples of the brothers 
Took oaths to run before all others.” 


Hudibras. 



WO months after the events last recorded, a 


short Southern winter had stripped the old 
leaves from the trees, and the bare limbs were al- 
ready swelling with the buds of a new year’s foli- 
age. Rains had filled the bayous in the swamp; 
the roads were miry; pools of muddy water stood 
here and there. This morning a fog lay on the 
river, and hung like long moss among the trees 
upon the shore. Out in the gray haze the sound- 
ing fog-whistle of a passing boat was heard. 

Within the Empire City activity prevailed. 
Frogg was arranging the attractions of the Big 


4 


WILD ROCK. 


Black Bar, and his wife was waddling about with a 
wet towel rubbing the counters and shelves. 

“ Hubbie,” said Madam Frogg, looking at the 
broad face of an old Dutch clock, whose hands 
pointed to eleven, “ nearly Saturday midday and 
not a customer yet ! What can they mean ?” 

The little man swallowed his chin, and popped 
out his eyes, and his limber legs bent under his 
protruding body as he croaked, “ Faix, it’s the 
birrud on the paiper that scares the kraturs, me 
gurrul. I think I’ll have the stereotypers to cast 
me a nagur, and call the name ‘ Big Black Agricul- 
turist ’ — how is that fur a device ?” 

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” sighed the 
lady, hanging up the damp towel. “ Never, oh, 
Froggie, darling, have I liked the black crow, and 
I approve the agricultural man. It is like the 
days of old, and will please the auncion re- 
game.” 

“ Divil a bit care I for the auncion regame, 
croaked the little man. The nagurs have been 
offish iver since their big man was kilt, and I won’t 
have the thrade injured. I’m a gintleman of 
Oirish dascent, be gorrah, an’ — ” 

“ Not necessarily, therefore, of dacent Oirish, by 
St. George!” cried Bludger, entering the door. 
“Pish!” continued the scout, dashing the moisture 
from his coarse hair and beard. “ This fog is aw- 


WILD ROCK. 5 

ful. It goes to a man’s bones. Have you seen any 
of my niggers here this morning ?” 

“Be gorrah, no, nor anybody else!” answered the 
editor. “ Where—” 

“By my hallidome!” interrupted Mrs. Frogg, 
“methinks you men have frightened the miseries 
away.” 

“By George! madam,” cried Bludger, “you are 
nearer the truth than you imagine, I fear. Every 
cabin on my place is empty. But here is Cecil. 
Let’s hear his report.” 

The iron-gray gentleman advanced in his usual 
urbane manner, and gracefully waving a greeting 
to all, he said, “Your bird, madam, will certainly 
be lonely, for the other black crows have flown. 
Belle Brook plantation is deserted, and at Hanging 
Moss I found only an octogenarian. This old 
fellow gravely informed me that his progeny had set 
out for Kansas, leaving him to my care. Ha! ha! ha!” 

“Now, by St. George!” cried the scout, “I see 
nothing to laugh about, Percy Cecil. This will 
make a wilderness of our valley.” 

“ By no means,” said Eustace, who, with Robert, 
now entered the boat. “ The valley will be 
happier for their absence, and they will be more 
prosperous elsewhere.” 

“Absurd!” exclaimed the scout. “Who will till 
the land ?” 


6 


WILD ROCK. 


“All that disturbs me,” said Cecil, “is our loss of 
representation in the Federal Government.” 

“ Rest assured,” answered Eustace, “that neither 
apprehension will be realized. The world is not 
so inviting but that another race will soon settle 
these rich acres.” 

“White men?” cried the scout. “Never, sir, 
never! Why, they would rule the country, and we 
should lose our prestige.” 

“ Be gorrah!” croaked Frogg, completely swal- 
lowing his chin, and sidling up to Eustace on his 
limber little legs, “ and do ye think, Maister Eus- 
tace, that some of the boys wull come over from 
Oirland?” 

“I do, in truth, Mr. Frogg, and from Germany 
and elsewhere; and the circulation of the Big 
Black Crow will doubtless greatly increase.” 

“Froggie, darling, by my hallidome! sure the 
Mulligans and O’Harahans will buy the paiper, 
and the O’Donnells and the O’Gradys and — ” 

“ Spare us these conjugal felicitations!” crmd the 
scout, eying with unconcealed disgust the little 
editor and his corpulent helpmeet, who, in their 
glow of hope, were embracing one another. “ And, 
gentlemen,” he added, turning his back on Eustace 
and facing Cecil and Magruder, “let us devise 
some means to stop this stampede.” 

“ Where are the creatures ?” asked Cecil, half 


WILD ROCK. 7 

amused. Certainly they have not sunk into the 
ground.” 

Apparently they had not, for now a confused 
murmur of many voices was heard out in the fog, 
and up the levee came shrill voices singing a song 
whose burden was, “ We’ll raise our homes in Kan- 
sas.” 

Madam Frogg, followed by the others, hurried 
out upon the levee. The fog was rising into 
clouds. And there, as far as the eye could reach, 
was a long, straggling line of black people — old 
men and children, women carrying infants, young 
girls and youths — all marching along the river- 
bank, singing the glories of the promised land, 
with the thundering chorus, “We’ll raise our 
homes in Kansas.” 

“Here, you exodusters!” cried Madam Frogg, 
waddling up to the fat citizen who headed the pro- 
cession. “Here!” she repeated, her round face 
glowing like a rising moon, “ where are you going ?” 

The fat citizen, swelling with pomposity, thun- 
dered back the chorus, “ I’ll raise my home in Kan- 
sas!” 

“ You goose, ypu!” cried Madam Frogg, gesticu- 
lating violently. “Don’t you know the ice is six 
feet deep there now? It will freeze your home 
square off, the instant you raise it in Kansas.” 

Appalled by this picture, the fat citizen turned 


s 


U^/LD ROCK. ' 


appealingly to the lean enumerator, who marched 
by his side. But the good lady saw her advantage, 
and, mindful of the prosperity of the Empire City, 
put in before the lean man could open his long 
jaws, crying, as she looked down the host, “Not 
an overcoat or a meal’s vittals among ye, nor a 
cow or a mule! Why, you’ll starve! No boats! 
By my hallidome! how do you expect to cross the 
river ?” 

“ Does we hab ter cross ?” asked the lean citizen, 
helplessly. 

“Of course you do,” cried Madam Frogg. 
“Don’t your great leader know Kansas is on the 
other side? How can you get over, hey?” And 
the good lady waddled back and forth before the 
black column, and looked at them triumphantly. 
But her glory was short. 

“Pshaw!” cried the fat citizen, after a moment’s 
deep meditation, “we heads de ribber! Fur’rd, 
chilluns!” 

Pushing the good woman out of the path, away 
went the vast line of blacks, shouting their chorus. 

Without other food than they had in their pock- 
ets, or raiment than they wore upon their backs, 
men, women, and children went tumbling and 
crowding along up the levee, to round the head of 
the Mississippi River and “raise their home in 
Kansas.” 


WILD ROCK. 


9 


CHAPTER II. 

“ Met in consultation 
To cant and quack upon the nation." 

Hudibras. 

O NWARD moved the singular procession, past 
the squad of white people who stood watch- 
ing the scene. A man went by with his wife and 
five children, the smallest hardly able to walk. 
Next came a young mulatto leading his hog by a 
string, and his wife followed carrying the baby. 
Stumping along went a little old fellow whose 
right arm and left leg were off, shouting the cho-_^ 
rus at the highest power of his still vigorous 
lungs. Covered with mud-spots, but wearing a 
look of steady determination, a woolly-headed 
urchin came past, his firm purpose in Kansas to 
lift his home singing with a tired but resolute 
voice. 

After looking at the straggling line some min- 
utes, Bludger turned to his companions and said, 
Something must be done to stop this desertion. 

If you will meet at the court-house in four hours, 

I will^turn scout again and bring you a report of 


lO 


WILD ROCK. 


where their army camps for the night. Such a 
mass of disorganization cannot get very far.” 

A capital idea,” remarked the iron-gray gentle- 
man; and laughingly he bowed to the other men 
and said,' “ Suppose we turn couriers and notify 
the country of the meeting ?” 

“ Robert, bring your father,” said Cecil, his eyes 
twinkling with amusement, as they separated on 
their errands. “A substantial barbecue will be ef- 
fectual, I think, upon the exodus.” 

Young Magruder, on reaching the residence, 
found the old Scotchman upon the gallery, seated, 
reading his tablets, and accosted him as he ap- 
proached: “They are going to meet at the court- 
house and want you.” 

“ What ?” asked the old man, looking up vacant- 
ly- 

“ The negroes are leaving the country,” said 
Robert, perceiving that his father’s memory was at 
fault, “and Percy Cecil wants you to meet him 
and others at the court-house to stop the exodus.” 

“ Robin, my bonny bairn,” said the old Scotch- 
man, in a musing manner, “ weel do I mind how 
Angus Macfarlane used to hold forth on the Exo- 
dus. An unco gude mon was Angus, Robin.” 

“ Father,” exclaimed the young man, at his wits’ 
end, “ the negroes — the negroes !” 

“ Aweel ! aweel !” said the venerable Scotchman, 


WILD ROCK. 


I 


with a sigh, “ the ould warld ha’ passed awa’, 
Robin, an’ ye wad ding your new-warld clavers 
into ane ould mon. But ye canna, Robin, ye 
canna, for the ould mon lives in the past.” 

The son bowed his head and thought awhile. It 
would not do thus. He must arouse the old gen- 
tleman. “ Father, ” he asked, “ do you know 
Percy Cecil ?” 

“ Percy ! I ha’ heard my gran’ther name North- 
umberland,” answered the old man. “ But Cecil 
I dinna ken. Come, bonny Robin, I can tell ye 
mony a story o’ the ould warld. Would ye know, 
my bairn, o’ the Percies ?” 

^‘Not now, thank you,” answered Robert, walk- 
ing into the house ; “ later I will be glad to 
listen.” 

Entering, he searched for Laura. His sister was, 
however, at the time contemplating the effect on 
dinner of Dinah’s absence; and without seeing her 
he remounted his horse and rode to the court- 
house. 

Delayed by the mire left after winter rains, the 
young man reached the building to find the meet- 
ing in progress. About twoscore persons were 
assembled, among them the men of the mystic sign, 
and the scout was concluding his report. 

“ I left them at the burned cabin of Wild Rock,” 
he said, “where they have encamped to take a last 


12 


WILD ROCK. 


drink from the sunken tank and a long farewell 
of the country. Some have embarked already upon 
passing steamboats; and unless they are speedily 
met with vigorous assurances from a person upon 
whom they rely, by St. George ! the entire race 
will march to-morrow to the infernal regions or 
elsewhere. My suggestion,” added Bludger, amid 
applause from the men of the ceiled room, “is to 
drive them back to their work.” 

“ This will never do !” exclaimed Cecil. “ They 
are now an undesirable population, and such treat- 
ment would render them unbearable. Thus far we 
have not interfered with their destiny. The race 
was neither enslaved nor freed by our agency. 
We have taken them as we found them. My ad- 
vice now is to let them severely alone.” 

“What will become of them?” asked Eustace; 
“ they are helpless.” 

“ The government,” said Cecil, “ emancipated, 
citizenized, and enfranchized them. To the North 
belongs exclusively the honor and responsibility. 
We share in neither the glory nor accountableness. 
Let the nation care for its wards.” 

“We cannot afford,” cried the scout, “ to let the 
people go. If we may not force them, then we 
should send Colonel Magruder with full power to 
promise anything they ask, provided they will 
return to their work.” 


WILD ROCK. 


13 


Surely we are bound to keep the creatures 
here,” unctuously remarked one of the ten. “ Once 
separated from us, superstition and barbarism 
would seize the race and engulf them in ruin.” 

Another of the mystic ten, arising with a sour 
smile, added, “ Yes; and, as a member of the Union, 
this country must protect its prosperity lest the 
other members suffer.” 

“ What says Colonel Magruder ?” asked Bludger. 

Will he go ?” 

^‘Understanding that you are willing to assume 
the responsibility of rectifying any wrongs of 
which the black people complain,” said Robert, 
addressing the assembly, “ I am willing to use my 
utmost influence to keep them here; and I believe 
that I can succeed.” 

Applause from every one but Cecil and Eustace 
greeted this speech. When the noise subsided, 
Robert said (and he was singularly pale as he 
spoke): “Much do I prefer to remain as I am; but 
if you bid me promise, I will in your name and my 
own assume the guardianship of this people's 
rights.” 

“ Go ! Stop them !” cried voices in all parts of 
the room. Magruder bowed and, turning, walked 
out the door, followed by continued applause and 
cries of “ Stop them, Magruder ! Bring them 
back !” Leaving the house, he went immediately 


H 


WILD ROCK. 


to the negro camp. They had lighted fires, and as 
evening approached the red glow under the arches 
and the smoke rising among the forest-trees, with 
the groups of black men and women, made the en- 
campment as picturesque as that of Timour when 
starting upon some great invasion. 

Magruder passed unchallenged to the centre of 
the host. Here, at the spot where the cabin was 
burned, he found Marie, with some women and five 
or six black men. One of the latter, a blacksmith 
named Clinch, asked him his mission. 

“ I come from the white men assembled in the 
court-house,” replied Robert, “ to promise you re- 
dress of your grievances, and urge you to return to 
your work.” 

“ Mr. Magruder,” answered Clinch, in behalf of 
my people, who have told me to speak, we wants 
equality. We is ignorant. We is not able to en- 
force just for ourselves. Wild Rock is dead. Will 
you instruct us what to do like he did, and protect 
our rights ? If you promise this, we goes back: but 
nothing else will do.” 

A buzz of excitement arose in the woods. Rob- 
ert now became aware that the encampment had 
fallen in behind him, and the black people were 
encircling the place where he stood with their 
leaders. He was to address, in his answer, the 
entire race in this country. 


IVILD ROCK. 


15 


Looking around at the dark eyes which gleamed 
about him in the woods, the young man answered, 
“ I will be to you as Wild Rock.” 

Marie bent eagerly forward, and from the woods 
arose a low hum, which heightened to a shout. 
“ Swear !” cried the negroes. 

“ Here at the pyre of the Congo chief I swear,” 
answered Robert, pale, but with a leonine gran- 
deur, under the red arches of the forest; “I swear 
that I will be to you people the same as Wild 
Rock !” 

A wild yell burst from ten thousand throats, and 
the forest rang again as the host proclaimed him 
chief. 

In the court-house the listening men heard the 
great cry; and Bludger, turning from the window, 
a dark scowl on his face, cried, “ By St. George ! 
the man has betrayed us and made himself a 
king.” 

“ Absurd !” exclaimed Eustace. The shout 
only declares success.” 

The scout, without answering, looked gloomily 
at the mystic ten. 

He means,” said Cecil to Eustace, “ that Ma- 
gruder now controls absolutely the immense blind 
power of the blacks.” 

Why, true,” said Eustace, in surprise; “but did 
you not send him for this purpose? From their 


i6 


WILD ROCK. 


very nature, any man who leads the negroes must 
be in this sense a king.” 

“Down with any man who bands the blacks to- 
gether !” cried Bludger. “ The man has made him- 
self king.” And with a scowl the scout departed, 
followed by seven others of the mystic sign. 

“ What can the negro accomplish while thus re- 
pressed ?” said Eustace to Cecil, who stood near 
him regarding these men as they left. “Education 
is no help, for they will not permit him to use his 
knowledge.” 

“ Yes, it is useless,” said the iron-gray gentleman, 
“except as another weapon in the race-conflict. 
Negroes and white men will not mingle in their 
pursuits.” 

“Government should purchase a home for the 
creatures,” said Eustace, warmly. “Their con- 
dition is worse than when their owners protected 
them for their value.” 

Percy Cecil regarded the speaker with a sarcastic 
smile; then slightly shrugging his shoulders, he 
turned easily away and in his graceful manner 
approached his daughter. 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER III. 

“One unbroken shadow spread through the long cathedral 
aisle of forest- trees .” — The Village of La Riccia. 



ATE at night returning from the conference 


' where everything had been arranged with 
the negroes, Magruder was gratified to see the dying 
fires in the camp deserted. The black people were 
already returning to their homes. But the young 
man did not .look like a victor. His arms were 
folded over his breast, his eyes were bent thought- 
fully on the ground, and a shadow of deep sad- 
ness rested on his leonine features. 

Slowly approaching the square, he was startled 
by the hum of many voices, and looking up saw 
a blaze of light shining from the court-house 
windows. A weary smile crossed his face, and he 
murmured, “Ah ! they are glad to keep their 
workmen. But the price — the price !” With these 
half-spoken words Magruder entered the brilliantly 
lighted room. 

He was astonished to see the place crowded with 
ladies and gentlemen. They were standing to re- 
ceive him. Obviously, acquainted with the success 


i8 


IV/LD ROCK. 


of his mission, they intended to make him the 
hero of a night. 

Some of the white people were there who re- 
garded Robert’s visit to the black camp as a pleas- 
ant masquerade, and looked upon his successful 
negotiation as a ruse to deceive their enemies. 
They had prepared for him a surprise which they 
assumed would prove most agreeable. 

When the young man stepped into the hall, a 
number of gayly dressed girls began a chorus de- 
scriptive of his triumph over the Congo, and Miss 
Cecil, whom they had induced to join them, ad- 
vancing, presented him a basket of flowers from 
her father’s green-house, so arranged as to make 
the inscription: “ Magruder, the Bravest of the 
Brave.” 

The young man started; a deep flush suffused his 
face, and, gently pushing away the basket, he 
turned without ‘a word and mingled with the 
crowd. 

“ You should have taken the flowers,” said 
Eustace, touching his arm. “ Why offend these 
people ?” 

“ I acted just as I felt,” answered Magruder. 
‘‘ You know me well enough to be aware that 
my word once given to the negroes, persons who 
intend to deceive them have nothing to hope from 
my aid.” 


IV/LI? ROCK. 


19 


“ Let us walk over to my office,” said Eustace, 
observing the looks of anger and amazement which 
the young man’s words called up to the faces of 
men standing about them. 

Robert’s declining the flowers occasioned only 
a little ripple of amused wonder ; but when his 
reason was whispered about the room, a buzz of 
angry excitement followed; and this increased as 
the young man left the hall with Eustace. The 
words “scallawag” and “carpet-bagger” were 
heard ih every variety of emphasis, and Miss 
Bessie, with a toss of her pretty head, went to an 
open window and threw the flowers into the yard. 
Soon after the assembly dispersed, excitedly dis- 
cussing the incident. 

When Robert reached the office whither he was 
conducted by Eustace, the latter handed him a box 
of cigars. Lighting the fragrant Havanas and 
seating themselves by a warm fire, the two young 
men began to discuss the question suggested by 
the events of the day. 

“ A grand destiny is before the negroes if they 
will work it out,” said Robert. “ In process of time 
a new race may spring into existence here, uniting 
the strength and docility of the negro with the in- 
tellect of the white man.” 

“And a new race of beasts will follow,” said 
Eustace, impatiently, “uniting a bovine heart with 


20 


fVILD ROCK. 


an asinine head. Much loose talk, Magruder, 
springs from improper use of the word ^race.’ 
Four races exist — Indian, African, Caucasian, and 
Asiatic. These have mingled, but never combined. 
Families of one race will amalgamate, like the 
Saxons and Normans in England. Races will 
not. America affords the latest example, and the 
white and red are not combined. Spain and the 
West Indies offered rare opportunities for amalga- 
mating black and white; but the Moors returned 
to Africa, and the negroes and French have not 
made a new race in Hayti. Asiatics, since the 
days of Clive, have lived with white men at 
Bombay, yet the ‘ Black Town ’ is as distinct from 
the ‘White Town ’ there as yonder hamlet of huts, 
where our negroes live, is different from this thriv- 
ing village.” 

Magruder thought of the black attachment to the 
soup-ladle, and sadly smiled. It was only the 
addition which had grown to each town in the 
State after the Africans were freed. But this 
assemblage of ill-constructed hovels, when made to 
flourish in Wiley’s flowing sentences, struck Robert 
as somewhat ludicrous. And as he thought of 
the inhabitants of this black town working out 
for themselves a grand destiny, he was abashed 
at the absurdity of the idea. Still, this was 
not the question for him. He had pledged the 


WILD ROCK. 


21 


Magruders’ faith to these creatures, and he would 
redeem it with the Magruders’ blood. After 
a while he quietly said this to his companion. 

“ Then, Robert,” said Eustace, “ devote yourself 
to this proposition ; colonize the negro. If suc- 
cessful, you will do good. The whites are more 
energetic, thrifty, intelligent, brave, and firm; and 
so long as the blacks live with the higher race, they 
will recognize their masters. You are doing them 
no good service to force them into a conflict which 
must end in their defeat. But if you can put 
the blacks off to themselves, they may accomplish 
^something. At all events, they will manage their 
own affairs and cease to injure the white man.” 

“ But my engagement was to see them righted 
here,” answered Robert, somewhat puzzled, “ when 
I stopped them at Wild Rock’s pier !” 

“ Bob,” said Eustace, laying his hand on Magru- 
der’s arm, “next time they start, let them go!” 

The gray light of dawn began now to creep 
through the shutters, and Magruder took leave of 
his friend. Several squads of black men, meeting 
him as he wended his way toward his father’s 
residence, greeted him with enthusiasm, and as- 
sured him that all had returned to work. 

During the night the encampment, in truth, 
had dissolved as suddenly as it had formed, 
and morning found the black people at their 


22 


WILD ROCK. 


cabins. Young Magruder, during this day, dis- 
covered that he had become the centre of the 
negroes’ trust. Whenever he passed them on the 
road or in fields, he felt their great patient ox-eyes 
following him. This was to Robert a source of 
sorrow, for nothing so troubles a generous nature 
as to be the hope of dependent creatures without 
power to aid them. 

Now resulted something which could not occur 
except in a population stratified like that of which 
we write. If the people had all been simple blacks, 
the young man would have been practically, as 
Bludger said, a monarch. Had all been culti- , 
vated white men, he would have been a recognized 
political leader. Owing to the irreconcilable con- 
flict between the classes, however, this man, so 
magnetic as to attract a whole race, with intellect 
to perceive their troubles and plan relief, and 
youth, courage, and force of character to extricate 
the people from their social and moral wilderness, 
found himself, the instant he began to organize 
one of the classes, an object of suspicion, fear, and 
hatred to the other. 

Those crawling things which live in the ooze 
of political strife and fatten upon the troubles 
of a nation, had too much interest in perpetuating 
the conflict to peaceably submit to its reconcile- 
ment. If the young man’s followers had been 


WILD ROCK. 


23 


enlightened Caucasians, he would, like the elder 
Brutus, in triumphing over the nation’s para- 
sites have insured an age of prosperity to his 
country ; but he was supported by a degraded race, 
and, like Rienzi, faced the dire necessity of banding 
them against their masters. Working upon the 
fears of the patricians, as the Colonna and Orsini 
would have done, Bludger and his mystic breth- 
ren sought to maintain their power by crushing the 
young tribune of the people. 

With a following of freemen, of Anglo-Saxon 
freemen especially, attempts of this nature have 
always resulted in the triumph of the popular 
cause, no matter how great the opposition. 
London repeatedly returned Wilkes to Parliament 
over the protests of a powerful nobility; Paris can 
boast of her Gambetta, and Dublin had her O’Con- 
nell and Grattan. But what becomes of the 
champion of popular right when the people, as 
Wild Rock said, become frightened and hide them- 
selves? 

It is useless to say that the African is unable to 
assert his rights as a citizen because he lacks firm- 
ness. This is but to announce a fact. The ques- 
tion is. Having conferred rights upon a people who, 
as now circumstanced, are unable to use them, is 
it not the duty of government, as the guardian of 
its citizens and the preserver of its own existence. 


24 


W/LD ROCK. 


to place this race in such a situation that it shall 
exercise its rights of citizenship ? 

Here is an element of disturbance to the peace of 
the South and of menace to the existence of the 
Union. Shall the power that extended over them 
the aegis of citizenship, which created the difficulty, 
eliminate this element by prompt action and judi- 
cious expenditure, or wait for another civil convul- 
sion to work the cure in nature’s way, at a cost 
of millions of money and lives and a legacy of 
untold sorrow? 

My charming friend of political proclivity, far be 
it from my purpose to hint that you have not an 
inalienable right to the office of doctor of the 
nation. But allow me mildly to suggest that in 
this black spot you have a symptom of the plague; 
and should you play with the danger instead of 
devising a cure, the body politic may become 
diseased beyond even your transcendent skill. 


N 


WILD ROCK, 


25 


CHAPTER IV. 

**By the pricking of my thumbs, 

Something wicked this way comes.” — Macbeth. 

T T was the morning after the scene last de- 
^ scribed, and the sun was shining brightly; but 
the shutters of the ceiled room were closed, and in 
its sombre light the men of the mystic sign moved 
about like familiars in a dungeon of the Inquisi- 
tion. A great contest was waging among them, 
and the tie of the brotherhood was strained to 
breaking. 

The scout shook his huge frame in his manner 
when very determined, and pushing his harsh 
face into the circle of listening men, he exclaimed: 

The young traitor must and shall be sacrificed. 
Our very existence depends upon this cast. A 
threatened overflow, which no power can avert, is 
sure to demoralize the negroes. Senator Frizzle 
and his crew are coming to investigate the riot. 
If this young Magruder is allowed to band the 
blacks against us, our power is gone forever.” 

Cecil replied, in his polished style: “Your con- 


26 


WILD ROCK, 


elusion is a non sequitur, Negroes demoralized 
by an overflow will be the easier to control. Friz- 
zle’s committee is for the approaching Presidential 
election, and they are too deeply interested in con- 
tinuing the agitation here to suggest any means of 
curing the evil. Let Magruder work away, and 
we will defeat him by peaceable means.” 

“You are mistaken,” cried the scout, shaking 
the coarse hair over his eyes, and pushing his big 
head further into the circle. “ Every agency that 
we possess will be taxed to its utmost to overcome 
this man who has betrayed us. The worst ele- 
ment of the negroes is joined with his old army 
friends among the whites, and we shall find all our 
usual methods exposed and made the basis of 
persecution. Frizzle and those with him may be 
as worthless as you say, but other men will read 
the facts he develops, and they will overthrow 
our power.” 

“ Bludger, I am amazed at you,” said Cecil, with 
a smile half contemptuous. “ A man who knows 
the art of making votes like you to be gulled by 
an old political fraud ! Why, those fellows wish 
nothing more earnestly than that you shall do 
some violence to Magruder. What care they for 
a few lives, if they can retain control of the 
stronger half of the Union? Let them and the 
young man alone, and it will all evaporate in a lit- 


WILD ROCK. 


27 


tie fire for the Northern heart. If your idea be 
correct that earnest men will read the facts (and I 
sincerely hope it is), such men will do nothing 
rash, but will devise a better solution of the trouble 
than a hot-headed, prejudiced man like you.” 

“ I’m not hot-headed. By St. George! I’m not 
prejudiced,” cried Bludger, rising and shaking 
himself, and turning exceedingly red, while 
Cecil smiled. “ I demand the vote — the vote ! 
Let’s stop this endless discussion !” 

“ Viva voce r firmly said Cecil. “ Let each man 
show his hand.” 

“ No !” cried the scout, doggedly. “ Ballot — 

such is our rule.” 

A hat was produced, paper torn, and prepara- 
tion made by the excited men to adopt the scout’s 
suggestion. Cecil saw that his advice was not 
regarded, and, rising, in his ever-graceful manner 
he quietly said, “Unwilling, gentlemen, to become 
a party to your decision, I shall retire before it is 
made.” 

“ What !” cried Bludger, advancing toward him 
menacingly, “will you also betray us ?” 

“Bravado is wasted on me,” said the iron-gray 
gentleman, calmly regarding the hard features of 
the scout. “ But,” he added urbanely, turning to 
the others, “ secrets were never revealed by me, 
and never shall be ! I merely decline to further 


28 


WILD ROCK. 


act with your association.” Bowing, he retired 
from the apartment, followed by one of his neigh- 
bors. Just as they reached the exit from the 
house, they heard, through the half-open door 
of the ceiled room, the deep-toned words: “ To all 
traitors — death !” 

Cecil and his neighbor rode from the house, and 
an hour after the scout emerged with his seven 
companions. Mounting their horses, they sepa- 
rated, and Bludger took the causeway toward his 
home. He was passing through a part of the 
swamp where overhanging trees shut out the sun- 
light, when the rustle of a skirt attracted him, and 
looking he beheld the island girl. 

She was walking along the road in deep thought, 
unobservant of his approach. Her wonderful 
beauty had attracted him even in the cave at the 
scene of the tragedy, and now, when he looked 
upon her in calmer mood, his headlong impetu- 
osity was aroused, and, careless of consequences, 
he accosted her. 

Riding before the girl, and stopping the road by 
placing his horse across it, he dismounted and 
said, “Did I not see you, pretty one, in the 
sunken boat where Magruder killed Wild Rock ?” 

The woman started, and, raising her dark eyes, 
gazed at him in wonder. 

Bludger looked up and down the road, and saw 


WILD ROCK. 29 

no one. Approaching the girl, he asked, with a 
laugh, “ What was the old man to you ?" 

The woman’s breast was heaving as if it would 
burst; her eyes sparkled, and a deep red spot 
burned on either cheek. “ He was,” she said 
through her compressed lips, “ a — father !” 

“Ha! ha! ha!” laughed the scout, again look- 
ing up and down the road. “You that old cock’s 
daughter ! By St. George ! absurd. More likely 
you were his mistress.” 

The woman’s eyes blazed, and seething through 
her clenched teeth hissed the words, “Murderer, 
you lie !” 

“A fair challenge, by George!” cried Bludger, 
and seized the skirt of her garment. 

A glittering blade flashed before his eyes, and 
he stood holding the severed cloth. Marie was 
gone. Then a pain shot up his hand, and looking 
down he saw his right forefinger lying on the 
ground, while the cloth was spotted with blood. 

The scout stood a minute regarding his severed 
finger; then, with a sinister smile of rage and pain, 
he picked it up, wrapped it in the cloth, and put it 
in his coat-pocket. 

“ Sumfin hurt yer ? Haw ! haw ! haw !” cried a 
hoarse voice at his elbow. “ Dat’s sense !” 

“You black rascal,” cried Bludger, writhing 
with pain and looking fiercely at the dwarf, “ mark 


30 


WILD ROCK. 


my word ! Vedoo is coming up with the river to 
get you for betraying Wild Rock.” 

The negro turned an ashy hue, as he muttered 
in a quavering voice, “Marie care for Doc; what 
yer scare me for?” 

“ Take care of Marie,” said the scout, vindictive- 
ly, as he walked off holding his hand and leading 
the sorrel home. “ Beware Wild Rock’s daughter I 
What means the flood in the river without rain ?” 

The river was swelling under the bright sun, a 
caldron ready to boil. The west-wind kept blow- 
ing, and the yellow waves, like tongues, were 
slapping and licking menacingly about the low 
embankment. Doctor Cole was troubled by this 
rainless flood. 

That night the Doctor was startled in his cabin by 
a noise from Beelzebub. Back and forth tore the 
horse, and snorted frantically. “ Witches ride him !” 
said the negro, waking slowly. “ Dat’s sense !” 
There was a splash, a louder snort, and Doctor 
Cole, looking out, beheld, by the light of a full 
moon, the animal, with mane erect and ears thrown 
forward, gazing at its shadow waving in water. 

“ Vedu mad !” muttered the troubled Doctor, 
rubbing his woolly head. “ Telled on Marie; telled 
on Wild Rock ! Vedu come up out de ribber. 
Gwine ter conjure Doc.” Wading through the 
rising water, he caught the horse’s mane. Holding 


WILD ROCK. 


31 


this to the light, he looked closely at some tangles 
in the hair, and cried aloud, “ Oh ! oh ! Witches’ 
stirrups ! Oh !” 

A shadow fell about him. The horse snorted and 
ran, and Cole, looking up, beheld a shapeless dark 
object floating down upon his cabin. It was the 
sunken tank near Wild Rock’s pyre, washed up by 
the current of a crevasse which the river made 
that night. 


32 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER V. 

The moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well.” 

The Bucket. 

ATER, water everywhere. The river had 



broken the levee in three places, and the 


entire valley was one vast sea. Out of the yellow 
waves appeared the tops of ridges, like islands, and 
parts of the embankment that remained. Houses 
fell, and their timbers floated away with broken 
fences. Melancholy groups of negroes, mules and 
cattle, and a few swine were collected on some of 
the bits of dry land. Anxiously signalling steam- 
boats which passed, the negroes watched the rising 
water as it narrowed and narrowed their little 
standing-places. 

Queer rumors flew about, eagerly devoured by 
these people, and carried hither and thither by the 
quick bateaux which darted among the islands. 
One told of a woman who, burning with fever, 
escaped the watchers, one night, and leaped into 
the icy embrace of the water-god. Another was of 
three strong swimmers who attempted to rescue a 
boy struggling in the crevasse ; but the arms of 


IVILB ROCK. 33 

the water-fiend twined about them and they sank 
forever. 

After a while the great stream arose in the air 
and hung in dense vapor over the scene. The walls 
of the remaining houses were damp; moisture 
dripped from the leafless boughs of the trees. 
Dank pestilential gases made this like living in a 
well. The oppression was intense. White men 
looked like cadavers, black men like ashen ghouls. 
And when some of the land-owners fled to the 
hills, the negroes thought that they were aban- 
doned to the river-witches. 

Old Magruder walked the long gallery before his 
house, stopping at each turn by the wooden stand 
at one end where stood the brass-bound bucket. 
Doctor Cole, who had just nailed a horseshoe to 
the windlass by which he had drawn water from 
the cistern, remained near the gallery, looking at 
the ground. 

A great change had come over the Doctor. His 
glossy black skin was now rough as if ashes were 
thrown over him; his white eyes had become 
yellow, and his teeth dark, and his drooping head 
hung forward from his shoulders. 

“Dook,” cried the old Scotchman, stopping and 
regarding the negro, “what ails ye, mon ?” 

Cole did not move, but, standing limply, with 
his eyes still bent upon the ground, he mum- 


34 


WILD ROCK. 


bled through his closed teeth the word “Con- 
jured !” 

“Conjured!” exclaimed the old man. “And 
who did this to ye, Dook ?” 

“ Marie,” muttered the negro, without moving, 
in the same dogged manner. 

“ Hoot, mon !” cried Magruder, “ Some puir 
negro lass, I suppose. She couldna hurt ye, mon. 
The lass hasna done ye ill — she couldna.” 

Doctor Cole slowly raised his yellow eyes to the 
old man’s face and muttered, “Marie — Vedu 
queen !” 

“ Dook,” asked old Magruder, looking at the 
horseshoe on the windlass, “ what is that for?” 

“ Keep conjurer off,” said the negro. “ But better 
ting an’ dat !” Then throwing aloft his arms he 
began to chant, and disappeared in the mist 
singing : 

“ De conjurer lib, an’ de conjurer trive, 

Till de nigger git a round snake bone 1” 

“ The lad is clean daft ! ” exclaimed the old 
Scotchman, looking after his disappearing form. 
“ He may do a harm. I’ll just mak’ a note of this 
talk;” and opening his tablets, the old man began 
to write. 

During the conversation a gloved hand had 
rested on the sill of the parlor window. It was 
now withdrawn, and immediately the scout stepped 


WILD ROCK. 


35 


upon the gallery. Bludger had become quite 
fastidious of late, and invariably wore dark kid 
gloves. 

He seemed to have grown eccentric as well as 
dainty, for, tripping lightly toward old Magruder, 
he touched his arm and said, “Senator Frizzle is 
upon us, with Representative Drizzle and Mr. 
Stenographer Mizzle — a charming committee. Ha ! 
ha ! ha !” And, slapping the old gentleman on 
the shoulder with his left hand, the scout went 
laughing to the gate. 

Mr. Bludger was become a very whimsical man, 
and his oddity now was amusing. Scarcely had he 
ridden five hundred yards when he turned off the 
causeway into the path leading to the bayou, and 
rode through the water until he reached a boat 
turned over in the ooze and labelled ‘‘Terror.” 
Hitching his horse, he righted the dug-out, and 
then — oh, singular aberration ! — he killed a snake. 
It was not a large or venomous viper, but it owned 
a peculiar head. Seemingly Mr. Bludger prized this 
sinister-looking head, for he did not bruise it, but 
cut it off with care and wrapped it in a blood- 
spotted piece of cloth which he took from his 
pocket. 

The scout's waywardness in this affair was 
really wonderful. He took the serpent's body into 
the boat and laid it carefully down, and then he 


3 ^ 


WILD ROCK. 


got in with his queer package and, finding the 
paddle, pushed down toward the river. What 
could this singular conduct portend ? Obviously 
something funny, for Mr. Bludger was laughing^ 
softly to himself. 

Down the river a pile of white-oak splits lay 
in the water near a dilapidated cabin, and a black 
pony looked out the window at the pile. When 
Mr. Bludger saw this, as he came down with the 
current, he laughed outright. Really the scout’s 
conduct was erratic in the extreme. He ran his 
boat up to the pile of splits, and deposited this 
sinister package in the pile. Then he hung the 
reptile’s body across a bough over the splits, and 
—would you have thought it ? — the thing looked,, 
for all the world, like Doctor Cole’s horseshoe at 
the cistern. 

After another ebullition of laughter this aberrant 
gentleman backed his boat into the stream, and 
with a peculiar bow to Beelzebub, who stood 
gravely watching the scene from the window, he 
went on his odd way. Returning to his horse, he 
upset the boat again — a most unnatural proceed- 
ing — and, mounting, rode back to the causeway 
and to town. 


WILD ROCK, 


37 


CHAPTER VI. 

“The quacks of government, who sate 
At th’ unregarded helm of state, 

And understood this wild confusion 
Of fatal madness and delusion.” — Hudibras. 

W HEN the scout reached the county town, 
he found a number of men standing in the 
court-house yard. They were summoned before 
the committee. Entering the hall, he discovered 
three gentlemen sitting near a table where a fourth 
was writing down the testimony of Eustace, who 
occupied the witness-stand. Representative Driz- 
zle, with contemplative eyes and long white locks, 
as chairman decided the numerous controversies 
which arose between Mr. Sizzle, the opposition 
member, and Mr. Frizzle, who was examining the 
witness. 

“Now, sir,” said Frizzle, gently arranging a curl 
which hung gracefully over his expansive brow, 
“ what is your opinion of all this ?” 

“By education and the effect of Christianity the 
negro must be made equal to the white man,” an- 
swered Eustace. “Suffrage is the basis of our gov- 


38 


WILD ROCK. 


ernment, and its only check against official incom- 
petency or corruption. Ignorant suffrage will be 
our ruin. If the negro is incapable of receiving 
this enlightenment, the races should be separated. 
This has been done with the more unmanageable 
Indian, and is practicable at less expense with the 
negro. But you have the most serious of ques- 
tions to deal with ; and in no event should delay 
and dalliance be allowed to precipitate a conflict 
costlier than either remedy.” 

“Pause!” uttered Mr. Frizzle in melodious ac- 
cent; and raising his finger, he gazed reprovingly 
at the witness. Eustace paused. Looking about 
majestically upon his colleagues, Frizzle remarked: 
“ Sir, we ask your opinion of a riot, and you give 
us a discourse — ah! — on — we know not what — we 
know not what !” 

The senator slowly rubbed his hands together 
and gazed at the witness, while Senator Sizzle and 
Representative Drizzle echoed, “We know not 
what !” 

“Direct your remarks exclusively, witness,” said 
Drizzle, looking severely at the stand and swelling 
out his form with immense dignity, “to what is 
before you! Give your opinion upon what is before 
you, sir !” 

“Very well,” proceeded Eustace, contemplating 
the committee. “ The riot resulted from inequal- 


WILD ROCK. 39 

ity of suffrages, like a boil from impure blood ; 
and—’* 

“Pause!” uttered Frizzle, raising his finger. 
“We have no desire to penetrate to first causes. 
Look at the matter before you.” 

“No, sir!” cried Sizzle, energetically. “State 
your view, witness, of the present matter, and have 
no digression. Confine your remarks to what is 
before you.” 

“ My opinion of what is before me,” said Eus- 
tace, with his eagle-like glance at the committee, 
“is that if the people’s servants, through negli- 
gence, corruption, or political cowardice, fail to 
grapple with the problems of government, their 
power will become the property of representatives 
or masters who have enough force of character to 
meet the issues.” 

“What does the man mean?” asked Chairman 
Drizzle, aghast, as he turned appealingly to his 
colleagues. 

“ Isolated manifestations of the race-conflict,” 
continued Eustace, “are not subjects for sectional 
agitation, nor just factors in Presidential contests. 
The problem is to remove the friction. This is na- 
tional in its consequences. If the South is ruined, 
the whole Union will suffer. Millions of ignorant, 
incompetent voters constitute the evil. The power 
which caused the disease should apply the remedy.” 


40 


WILD ROCK. 


“Stand aside, witness!" cried the whole commit- 
tee together. 

“We have enough of this," said Representative 
Drizzle. “ Mr. Stenographer, have you taken down 
this testimony ?" 

“Weally," said Mr. Mizzle, a little long-nosed 
man with huge spectacles, ‘‘it seemed so irwele- 
vant that I have not. I waited for instwuctions." 

“Quite right, Mizzle; quite right!" exclaimed 
Senator Sizzle; and gazing after the departing 
witness, he added: “A most dangerous character! 
Why, sirs, that man has no conception of the great 
ends of party. Ha! ha! ha! Better omit his non- 
sense, Mr. Mizzle." 

“ By all means leave it out," said the others. 

“The negro who showed us his stump of a leg," 
said Frizzle, gently scratching his curl with his lit- 
tle finger, “was a much more valuable witness." 

“ You know the white people never fractured 
his tibia in that way," said Senator Sizzle, firing 
up. 

“But he afforded us a bone," said Drizzle, in a 
meditative manner — “a bone of contention." 

Robert Magruder took Eustace’s arm as the lat- 
ter pressed through the little throng of spectators, 
and said, “I repeat Eustace to Eustace : ‘Why of- 
fend those people?’" 

“And I answer Magruder with Magruder,” 


WILD ROCK. 


41 


Wiley replied, laughing, as they stepped out the 
door, “by saying, ‘I felt just as I acted.’ England 
has recovered repeatedly from national maladies 
by reason of its checks — the crown, the nobility, 
and grades among the people. We have none of 
these. Every citizen is here equal in law. Our all 
is the ballot. It behooves us, therefore, to preserve 
rigorously the purity of the one and the standard 
of the other. Political separation seems necessary 
in order to accomplish these ends in the South. 
Educating the negro will, I fear, not appease the 
race-conflict. But a territory may be purchased 
for the black man where his rights can be secured 
by constitutional guards; and the committee should 
ask Congress to propose the requisite amendment. 
If properly presented, it will be ratified by the 
States.” 

“But as I understood,” said Magruder, “you 
told the committee they would be overthrown.” 

“So they will,” answered Eustace. “When once 
the rulers cease to attain the best ends for the 
people, a breach of the social compact has resulted, 
which is sure to alienate the respect of the masses, 
and the first clever adventurer who engages to 
govern to better advantage may seize the reins of 
power without opposition. If Congress were dis- 
persed and the President imprisoned to-morrow, 
their sole reliance would be the people. At this 


42 


WILD ROCK. 


time the people would rally to their support. But 
if we have bad citizens and a fraudulent ballot, 
worthless representation results: and in that event 
the people will welcome the adventurer as France 
did a Napoleon.” 

After a pause, Magruder remarked, as they ap- 
proached Eustace’s office: “A deputation of ne- 
groes headed by the fat citizen informed me this 
morning that they had nominated me for sheriff. 
What do you think ?” 

“ The whites will not permit your election,” an- 
swered Eustace. ‘‘I should not run.” 

“ But I shall,” said Robert, as he took leave. 
“ The die is cast.” 

Eustace looked at the young man’s fine form as 
he went off into the falling shadows of night, and 
then at the members of the committee, who, having 
finished their investigation, were standing on the 
court-house steps waiting for the stage-coach; and 
he sighed as he thought that this young Apollo 
was risking a better existence than theirs in a vain 
endeavor to supply their omissions. 


IVIZjD rock. 


43 


CHAPTER VII. 

“The eagle, he was lord above, 

And Rob was lord below .” — Rob Roy's Grave. 

\ T 7EARIED with destroying, the great river 
^ ^ has gone within its banks, and is now 
winding, like a huge serpent, toward the sea. 
Back-waters are flowing by multiplied bayous into 
the stream, and the warm sun, breaking through 
the mist, kisses the vines among the tree-tops 
that blush with opening flowers. Spring, re- 
tarded by the icy current, now comes on apace, 
and over the ooze which the river is leaving 
spreads her rich carpeting of green. 

A solitary bateau is threading the narrow chan- 
nels left by the receding water. The superb 
muscular development and leonine grace which the 
boatman unconsciously displays can belong only 
to Robert Magruder. But the young man’s brow 
is sad and his manner watchful. Heedless of the 
glad melody with which the forest songsters greet 
the genial day, he seems immersed in care, and 
every moment glances cautiously around under 


44 


WILD ROCK. 


the arch-shaped vines and then at a long-barrelled 
rifle lying near his feet. 

A large tree half uprooted and broken leans 
over the bayou through which the boat is passing; 
and as the young man gazes keenly at the movent 
boughs, an eagle rises from the trunk and, circling 
gracefully in the air, darts with a glad cry of free- 
dom into the very eye of the sun. 

Quick as the flight of the imperial bird, the rifle 
is levelled at its life; but a silvery call arrests the 
Are, and Robert beholds on the broken stem 
whence the feathered king has flown the fairy-like 
form of Marie. 

“ Oh, Magruder ! would you slay my friend ?” 
asks the girl, her great reproachful eyes beaming 
on him ; and her crystal accents drop like tears as 
she says: “After that morning, Magruder, this was 
my only companion; and now he is gone.” 

“Why then did you release the eagle?” asks 
Robert, for he knows not what to say. 

“ Because — I cannot tell,” Marie answers, gazing 
into the sky, where now a faint dark spot 
marks the disappearing bird. “ He seemed to me 
noble and sad; and something^told me that I might 
not longer protect him in his prison.” 

“ How think you thus ?” answer the young man’s 
deep firm tones. “ Have we not, your people 
and mine, firmly united and organized ? This 


WILD ROCK, 


45 


special election will place in my hands the coun- 
ty’s power. What then fear you, lady ?” 

“ Clouds have settled on my spirit, Magruder,” 
sadly says the beautiful schemer, “ and I doubt 
this appealing to the black men’s ignorance. The 
poor toys — the bear, the cat, the serpent — are 
gone. My eagle was the last.” 

‘‘Such toys are better absent,” says Robert. 
“Your people will not desert for that.” 

“ Desert !” cries the girl, and a proud light 
beams in her almond-shaped eyes. “ Why, the poor 
creatures hold that I am their queen ; as you, 
Magruder, are — Wild Rock !” 

The young man starts, and would protest 
against this announcement ; but the dark lady 
has disappeared. Awhile he stands immersed in 
thought, and then, with a deep sigh, he bends and 
sweeps the paddle through the water, and the 
little boat glides onward. 

Floating with the sluggish flow of the back- 
water, aided by an occasional stroke of his paddle, 
Robert’s boat approaches the place where the 
scout has been a few days before, and, just as the 
cabin and split pile come into view, he observes 
a negro dancing and circling in a most singular 
way about the latter. The young man is so im- 
pressed by these antics that he begins turning to 
land in order to ask their meaning. But a strong 


46 


WILD ROCK. 


current strikes the boat; the sun is declining, 
and Robert has promised to meet his father on the 
causeway for a ride. He looks at his watch, and 
sees that but three hours remain for him to visit 
the fields and direct repairs of the flood’s dam- 
age. He looks toward the cabin: the negro has 
disappeared. It is a hard pull now against the 
stream, for the boat has drifted far, and the 
young man, after again looking vainly for the 
negro, ceases his effort and floats down to the 
gin-field, where his hands are rebuilding a fence. 

All is still about Doctor Cole’s hut after the 
boat’s passage. One hour, two hours, three, and 
dusk comes over the scene. Great black clouds fly 
above, like ill-omened birds. It will be a wild night. 

The dwarf comes out of his hovel with a horrible 
grin, like Caliban from the cave. 

“Haw! haw! haw!” laughs the negro. 

“Caw! caw! caw!” croaks a crow. 

Queer indeed is this Voodoo doctor, making cir- 
cles on the ground about a pile of white-oak splits. 
Is that a horseshoe hanging above him? Ha! it 
is the scout’s viper. 

“ De conjurer lib, an’ de conjurer trive, 

Till ne nigger git a round snake bone !” 

Thus grates the dwarf; and like an answer a blood- 
splashed package rolls down the pile, bursts, and a 
sinister serpent!s head upgazes with glassy eyes. 


WILD ROCK. 


47 


The black bat night is hovering. The wind 
wails in the trees. And ever and anon the big 
moon peeps through a cloud-rift on the ghostlike 
cypress-knees. 

“ Belzebub !” grates the dwarfs harsh voice. 

The black beast comes forth, his eyes glistening 
in the moonlight, his cropped ears extended, his 
red nostrils spread. 

The dwarf ties the horse with a hair rope, takes 
the snake’s head and enters the cabin. After a 
time he emerges, bearing a gun. 

Leaping on the horse and flourishing his rusty 
weapon, the dwarf grates: “Forred, Belzebub!” 
and digs him in the ribs with his heel. The ugly 
beast bites and kicks at his rider, and goes off side- 
wise like a crab. The spectral cypress-knees loom 
ghostlier. A serpent hisses, an owl hoots, and the 
crow croaks, ‘‘Caw! caw! caw!” 

All is still again — still at the cabin, still in the 
swamp, still out yonder on the causeway, where 
the fireflies are glittering like starlights in the 
woods, and the big moon is ever and anon peeping 
through the cloud-rifts on the white cypress-trees. 

What does the big moon see? A white-robed 
maiden with long wavy hair; a flash brighter than 
the fireflies, and then — lying on the causeway, 
looking up at the scurrying clouds, calm, waxlike, 
beautiful — a dead quadroon girl ! 


48 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER VIII, 


“ A deed without a name.” — Macbeth. 


ETURNING with his father through a field 



where ploughmen were working, Robert 
noticed dark lines among the green — the furrows 
in the grassy sod; and to amuse the old Scotch- 
man, whose silence and abstraction were greater 
than usual, he pointed to these and the yellow 
water beyond, and remarked, “Those bands are 
beautiful in the evening dusk.” 

“Ah! Robin Adair,” sighed the old man, sadly,. 
“ Clan Grigor’s bands are scattered. Anither race 
climbs Ben Lomond’s craigs, and rests in the castles 
by the bonny loch.” 

He looked into his father’s pale face, as they 
rode on together, and said, with a gentle smile, 
“ The bands made by the ploughshare in the grass,, 
yonder.” 

“ Ah, bairn,” said the old Scotchman, “ the rob- 
ber bound the ploughman and carried him off wi’' 
the oxen.” 

Determined to surprise the old man into an ex- 
ercise of memory about the near past, Robert 


WILD ROCK. 49 

selected an oak beside the causeway, and firing his 
rifle, scattered the bark in all directions. 

“ That shot was as good,” he said, laughing, 
when his father approached and examined the tree, 
“as the forester’s at Kooper’s Well.” 

“Well?” said the old Scotchman, with a vacant 
stare; and then drawing out his tablets, he turned 
the leaves nervously. Presently his face bright- 
ened, and he cried, “Ah! I hae the well. Puir 
lassie! Doc is clean daft. He will do a harm, Robin 
— a great harm.” 

Robert abandoned the hopeless effort to arouse 
his father’s memory of recent events, and they rode 
•on silently for a long time. Lopping off a limb 
will sometimes make a tree more vigorous: and 
partial loss of the reproductive faculty rendered 
the old man’s perception strong for his age. He 
was looking at the fireflies which spangled the 
darkness as they rode along the causeway, when 
their horses suddenly stopped. Old Magruder, 
pointing to a white object which'^shone as the 
moonlight flashed out from behind a scudding 
cloud, exclaimed in a startled tone, “ Robin, bairn, 
what is yon ?” 

The young man dismounted, and tried to lead 
his horse toward the object ; but the animal re- 
belled. He then placed the rein in hiS father’s 
hand, and walked to the white heap in the road. 


50 


IVILD JiOCIC 


Another cloud obscured the light, and he was 
bending over the object, when the moon again 
flashed out and disclosed the pale, beautiful feat- 
ures of Marie. She lay calm as a waxen image, 
her long hair damp with dew across her breast, 
and her dark eyes, now blank and expressionless, 
gazing up at the scudding clouds. 

Old Magruder was again sunk in abstraction, 
when Robert, taking the girl’s head in his lap, 
looked up, fearing to find him injured by the awful 
spectacle; and the young man, relieved of this anx- 
iety, began considering what course he should pur- 
sue. Leave the poor woman there until he could 
ride with his father to their home? This was im- 
possible. Some wild beast might devour her. But 
could he trust the old man’s memory of the road 
to his residence? Ha! Mameluke would go 
home if left to himself, and would lead the other 
horse as he had led Frogg’s back. But what would 
Laura surmise? for old Magruder would never re- 
member enough to inform her. Ah ! Another 
thought came to Robert, and he began to act. 

Taking a leaf from his note-book, and hastily 
pencilling directions to Laura to send aid, he 
pinned this to the lapel of his father’s coat, and then 
tying the bridle of the old man’s horse to Mame- 
luke’s crupper, he gave the signal, “ Go !” Away 
went the trained animal, leading the other; and the 


WILD ROCK, 5 I 

young man sat down upon the causeway, and pil- 
lowed on his breast the dead girl’s head. 

“Poor child!” he said, “ is this the end of all 
your plans ?” Then grasping at a straw of hope, 
he laid his hand upon her heart. It had ceased to 
beat. “ Oh ! little Marie,” he sorrowfully mur- 
mured, “your short life has been sad — so sad!” 

Erelong his rifle leaning against a tree attracted 
his attention, and he reached forth his arm to take 
the piece, intending to load it. At this moment a 
harsh voice cried, “ Stop ! I arrest you for mur- 
der! ” 

Looking up, Robert saw the scout standing over 
him, accompanied by Jinks and Tock. All three 
held their guns pointed at his head. 

“What means this, sirs?” exclaimed the young 
man, rising and confronting them, with an air of 
haughty inquiry. “ Dare ye accuse me of Marie’s 
death ?” 

“By St. George! the circumstances are at least 
suspicious,” sneered Bludger, examining the rifle, 
which he had seized. “You are found here, alone 
with the murdered woman, and your gun recently 
discharged !” 

“ But my character !” cried Robert. 

“ To preserve it the motive,” said the scout, 
glancing at his companions. 

Magruder’s leonine face gleamed, and his grand 


52 


WILD ROCK. 


form expanded to its full height. '‘Enough of 
this!” he cried. “Here!” (to Tock and Jinks) 
“ precede us to the county town.” 

Captain Tock and Colonel Jinks, obeying, set off 
in advance. 

“Now, sir!” said Robert to the scout, “I am 
your prisoner. Walk before me !” 

Unable to resist the command, the scout followed 
his companions, and Robert brought up the rear,, 
carrying the young girl’s corse. In this singular 
order the procession entered the town, where 
Marie’s body was delivered to the fat citizen and 
Clinch, and Robert was incarcerated. 

Immediately on reaching his cell, the young man> 
sent for Eustace ; and this gentleman entered the 
low door a few moments after, rather dazed by the 
appearance of affairs. 

“ Why, Magruder, what on earth have you been 
doing?” he cried, gazing at Robert’s shirt-bosom,, 
which was covered with blood. 

The turnkey lingered at the cell-door, gaping 
with apparent horror at the sight; and Robert, ob- 
serving the man’s looks, began for the first time to 
appreciate the gravity of his position. 

“Shut the door!” said Eustace, quietly. The 
man obeyed. 

“ Now, Robert, tell me all about this; everything, 
I charge you !” 


WILD ROCK. 


53 


Thus adjured, the young man narrated all the 
circumstances connected with his ride, the finding 
of the body, and the arrest. As he proceeded, a 
look of uneasiness which Eustace wore on entering 
gave place to a smile, and at the conclusion of the 
narrative he laughingly said, Well, Magruder, 
the charge is easily disproved; but Bludger has 
probably treated you to a hard bed for one night." 

Ha !" he cried, a moment later, in manifest 
alarm, “is not your father’s memory defective ?’’ 

“ Yes," answered Robert, looking in wonder at 
the lawyer, who was beating upon the cell-door; 
“but what has that to do with this matter?" 

“Don’t you see?" cried Eustace, still pounding 
away. “ He is your only witness ! Ho ! there, 
jailer ! Quick !’’ 

The sleepy turnkey slowly unlocked the rusty 
cell-door, and then consumed an age, as it seemed 
to Eustace, unbarring the jail-entrance. At last 
he stepped out into the night-air, along with the 
lawyer. 

“ Tough case!" ventured the turnkey, as they 
made their exit. 

Eustace looked at the man a moment; then he 
said, handing some money, “Get Mr. Magruder 
a good supper. They have made an absurd mis- 
take." 

“The county furnishes — "began the man; but 


54 


WILD ROCK. 


finding that he was addressing his information to 
the vacant night, he turned about muttering Blud- 
ger’s name, and walked back into the jail. 

A few moments after, the clattering hoofs of 
Wiley Eustace’s horse were heard upon the cause- 
way. The lawyer’s head was busy during his rapid 
ride, and when the lights of old Magruder’s house 
shone in the darkness he was ready to make a 
vigorous effort to preserve the essential evidence. 


WILD ROCK. 


55 


CHAPTER IX. 

“ O.love, despatch all business, and be gone.” 

The Merchant of Venice, 

L aura met Eustace on the gallery, and con- 
ducted him, at his request, to her father, 
who was in his library — a long narrow room 
lined with shelves of books. When Wiley Eustace 
entered, the elderly gentleman was sitting near a 
large table, engaged in the amusement of pulling 
Bracken’s ears, and the dog, who seemed to enjoy 
the fun, was playfully defending his organs of 
hearing by striking like a bear with his paws. 

“Ah! Meister Eustace, coom in, coom in!” cried 
the Scotchman, cheerily. “ Bracken and I are joost 
having ane sma’ play.” 

The lawyer drew a chair to the table and, stand- 
ing with his hand resting on its high back, re- 
marked, “ Robert’s message was received, no 
doubt, and you sent the assistance.” 

“ Father returned home, with a note on his- 
coat,” said Laura, smiling, as she stood at the door. 
“ I sent two of the negroes who happened to be 
here at the time, and every moment I look for 


56 WILD ROCK. 

their return. What did he want with assistance, 
Mr. Eustace?” 

“ Some person had fallen on the causeway,” 
answered the lawyer, without looking at the lady. 
“ Will Miss Laura oblige us by ascertaining if her 
messengers have returned ?” 

In other words,” said she, laughing, and clos- 
ing the door as she retired, “you would like to 
discuss your business alone. Good-night.” 

Eustace now looked at the old man for a time, 
and then said abruptly, “ Where is your son ?” 

“What! Robin Adair?” queried Magruder. 
“ Oh, he’s aboot — somewhere aboot the hoose.” 

“ He is in jail !” said Eustace, solemnly. 

“ Ha! ha! ha!” laughed the old gentleman. “ Ye’r 
a good joker, Meister Eustace** a vera funny mon. 
Ha! ha! ha!” 

The lawyer’s vexed face showed the failure of 
this attack. But his art was to sift men’s minds; 
and like a good tactician, when defeated in the 
assault, he now began a regular siege. 

Seating himself in the chair, he considered, 
while he looked at the aged Scotchman’s vacant 
face, how to bring back to his mind the scene 
upon the causeway. 

“You and Robert were in the field this even- 
ing,” he ventured, beginning at the opening of 
their ride home. 


WILD ROCK, 


57 


“Vera like, vera like. I dinna mind,” answered 
Magruder, abstractedly gazing at a favorite vol- 
ume which lay open on the table. “John Rus- 
kin is ane great mon, Meister Eustace; ane great 
mon!” 

“The devil fly away with Ruskin!” muttered 
the lawyer, impatiently; and then he added, trying 
the other end of the ride, “ Mameluke led you 
home all right.” 

“Ah! Meister Eustace, ane great body o’ men. 
When I was a bairn — ” 

“ I speak of your son’s horse,” said Eustace, 
abruptly. 

“ Admirable horse they were,” continued the old 
gentleman, gazing with complacence in the air; 
“ ane charge they made at the Pyramids — ” 

“ Mr. Magruder,” interrupted the lawyer, “ I 
wish to converse with you on matters of impor- 
tance — things vitally affecting yourself.” 

“Ah!” said the poor old man, looking timidly 
around. “ Would anything injure me ?” 

“ No,” answered the lawyer; “ but — ” He paused, 
for he was wholly at a loss how to proceed, and 
smiling, murmured, “ A tort et a travers.'" Then, 
thoughtfully, he dropped his eyes. 

Eustace looked at the floor. The aged Scotchman 
sat gazing abstractedly into vacancy. The silence 
was unbroken save by the steady breathing of the 


58 


WILD ROCK. 


dog that now slept by its master’s chair. View- 
ing the bearings of his position, the lawyer 
thought once of calling Laura, but a moment’s 
consideration convinced him that his daughter’s 
appearance would probably start a train of ideas 
that would lead the old gentleman’s mind further 
than the Pyramids from the subject that he wished 
to reach. 

One peculiarity of their conversation had im- 
pressed the lawyer. He noticed that Magruder 
caught at words rather than things. When this 
recurred to his thoughts, he was about adopting 
the dangerous expedient of describing the scene 
to the old Scotchman and asking him if he re- 
membered it. Half smiling at the picture of a 
cross-examination which occurred to him, he mut- 
tered, “ He would give me as his source of infor- 
mation,” and abandoned this course. It remained 
to try the effect of verbal sounds. 

The lawyer remembered two or three expres- 
sions used by Robert in his narrative at the jail, 
and, raising his eyes from the floor, he returned to 
the last charge. He arose and walked to a win- 
dow, and looked out. The old gentleman’s eyes 
followed his movements. 

‘‘Puir lassie!” said the lawyer. ^‘Dookwi’ do 
her a harm. He is clean daft.” 

“ Hoot, mon; hoot, mon!” exclaimed his compan- 


WILD ROCK. 59 

ion, fumbling uneasily for his tablets. “ The well, 
the cistern. Hoot, mon!” 

Eustace could feel the beating of his pulse, but 
his voice was reasonably steady as he uttered, 
“Puir lassie! All a white heap in the causeway. 
Robin, bairn, what is yon ?” 

Hoot, mon! the tablets. I mind, I mind!” cried 
the old Scotchman. “ Let me write it down.” 

The lawyer, trembling with suppressed excite- 
ment, drew the ivory book from the old man’s 
pocket and placed it before him, and then, his 
memory now thoroughly aroused, Magruder wrote 
down a striking summary of the scene which oc- 
cured upon the causeway earlier in the night. 

Looking over his shoulder, the lawyer saw the 
last word written, and then he breathed a sigh of 
relief. He then sat down, and questioned the aged 
gentleman about the occurrences; and Magruder, 
referring from time to time, after a pause, to his 
tablets in order to start his sluggish memory, gave 
a lucid description of the shot at the tree and the 
subsequent finding of Marie’s body. 

He was still repeating his questions, and gradu- 
ally approaching the arrest, in order at once to 
break to the father the news of the accusation 
against his son and to impress the incidents more 
deeply on his memory, when the door opened, and 
Laura, entering, very pale, said, The messengers 


6o 


WILD ROCK, 


have returned, Mr. Eustace. Will you come 
here ?” 

Eustace arose, and' looking at old Magruder’s 
face, he was pained to see intelligence fading from 
it like a dying lamp in a lantern, leaving only 
blank abstraction behind. With a sigh, the law- 
yer turned to the young lady, and together they 
walked out upon the gallery. 

“Oh, Eustace,” she said, “what is this about 
my brother?” 

“ Some of Bludger’s machinations,” answered her 
companion. “ He charges your brother with kill- 
ing Marie; but your father knows that Robert was 
a mile away when the murder was committed.” 

Tears started in Laura’s blue eyes, and, clasping 
her hands, she exclaimed, “Dearest brother, I 
knew you were innocent!” 

They sat down together on the steps. For a 
long time the silence was unbroken. Then Eus- 
tace raised the gentle girl’s hand and pressed it to 
his lips. 

“ Oh, Eustace,” she murmured, “ how glad I 
am that you are here to defend brother ! Lately 
people have treated me so singularly. Even Bes- 
sie Cecil has grown cold as an icicle. I should 
fear the trial in a strange lawyer’s hands.” 

“ Imagination, Laura,” answered the young man, 
gently. “ The shock has unstrung your nerves. 


WILD ROCK. 


6i 


Robert’s defence is easy, unless your father’s mem- 
ory—” 

Eustace stopped abruptly. Admonished by the 
girl’s sudden start, he felt that he was exposing 
his case, and a vague feeling of uneasiness took 
possession of his mind. 

“What of his memory?” eagerly asked Laura, 
gazing wistfully into Wiley’s face. “Tell me, Eus- 
tace; I may be able to help.” 

“Well, do this,” said the lawyer, smiling: “say 
nothing to any one, and see that your father keeps 
his tablets as usual, but safe.” 

“ And now good-night, my dearest,” he said, 
rising and taking the girl’s cold hand. “Robert 
expects my return.” 

“ O love, be gone!” murmured the lady. “ Keep 
not my brother in suspense.” 

The young man bent forward and kissed her 
pale brow, and then he turned and went out from 
the light of the swinging lamp, bearing into the 
darkness all of Laura’s hopes. 


62 


WILD ROCK, 


CHAPTER X. 


“ Here shall the Press the People’s right maintain, 
Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain.” 


Life of Story. 


UMOR travels in the country with lightning- 



JLV like rapidity. City-dwellers engrossed in 
business or pleasure, unaware till the newspapers 
inform them that a house has fallen in the next 
block, have little idea of the avidity with which a 
rustic population seize every incident that varies 
the monotony. 

A beautiful spring morning succeeded the night 
last described. A sky of limitless blue was redo- 
lent with the perfumes of a budding year and 
alive with the glad music of its songsters. Brooks 
murmured, soft winds whispered, and the young 
leaves trembled in the balmy air. 

On such a day as this an awful report began 
spreading through the country where our scene is 
laid. It was bruited here and there, with number- 
less whispered additions, that Robert Magruder 
had killed Marie. 

This flaming-tongued dragon of a rumor went 
flying about over the fields, into the houses, 
whispering here into the blush-tinted ear of a 


WILD ROCK. 63 

maiden, and there crying before a rugged farmer’s 
face, growing bigger and uglier as it flew. 

John Frogg sat within the walls of the Empire 
City. One eye glared in stern resolve at a keg of 
apple-brandy, and the other followed the rotund 
form of Madam Frogg with a benign superior 
glance. Clipped papers lay as ruins about the edi- 
tor’s stool; the shears in his hand gleamed falchion- 
like. Beholding her husband, in his glory, the 
good lady might have thought of Marius amid the 
fallen towers of Carthage. 

“ Be gorrah !” said he, “ this is a bastely charge 
on young Magruther.” 

“Baseless is the charge, Froggie darling,” said 
his wife, “‘as the unsubstantial fabric of a dream.’ 
And such a good young man ! really one of the 
auncion regame.” 

“Faix, an’ didn’t he give me a lift in the matter 
o’ hunting deer?” asked the little editor, in a tone 
of indignant remonstrance; and glancing about the 
room, he appealed to an imaginary audience. “ Do 
yez think, ye crathurs, that a gihtilmin of Oirish 
dascint will iver deserht a frind ? The Black Crow 
shall defind the young man.” 

The good lady gazed in unutterable delight at 
her valiant husband, whose words she was drinking 
in, and then waddling up to the little man, she pat- 
ted him on the back, and cried, “Good! my darling 


64 


IVILD ROCK. 


bubble. But screw your courage to the sticking- 
place, and we’ll not fail.’ By my hallidome ! the 
folly of the accusation will break it down.” 

“Only let me get at ’em, be gorrah !” cried the 
little editor, leaping from his perch and assuming 
an attitude of attack. “The iditor of the Crow 
will show ’em a thing or two !” 

“ Hubbie,” said Mrs. Frogg, after a meditative 
pause, “ let’s set up an article in defence of the 
young man.” 

“Come along, thin, wid ye, me gurrul,” cried the 
little man; and putting their heads together, the 
worthy couple began to compose a laudation of 
Robert, setting the type as they agreed on the 
sentences. 

They were still so engaged, and had half a 
column in type, when the form of Bludger entered 
the door. An ominous scowl marked his hard 
features, and in sharp peremptory tones he asked, 
“ Have you heard of the Magruder murder?” 

“Sure, thin, ye mane the killin’ o’ the nagur ?” 
queried the editor, looking up from his type. 

The scout frowned, and Frogg’s limber legs 
bent under him with alarm. 

“I mean,” said Bludger, sternly, “the foul mur- 
der done by Robert Magruder.” 

“Sure, sir,” pleaded the editor, “he did not the 


crime. 


WILD ROCK. 65 

“He is guilty!” cried the scout, his face burning 
with rage. “By St. George, I say he is guilty!” 

“By my hallidome, I don’t believe you!” cried 
Madam Frogg’s shrill voice. 

“ By the same token, naither do I !” cried the 
editor, plucking up spirit. 

“Yes, you do, sir,” said Bludger, turning upon 
Frogg with a menacing frown. “ Know you this T 
And he made the mystic sign. 

“ Ochoon, ochoon!” wailed the Irishman, “Sure, 
thin, ye be afther murthering the poor young man.” 

“Here, sir!” commanded the scout, beckoning 
him aside, “insert this article in your little sheet. 
It is ordered. Do you hear?” 

The last inquiry seemed pertinent, for Frogg 
was seemingly bereft of reason. Gazing hopelessly 
toward his wife, he took the manuscript, but it fell 
from his nerveless hand. 

Bludger now turned from him, and approaching 
the fat lady with a bland smile, he said: “Madam, 
I have just handed your husband an editorial for 
the good cause. Of course I should not dare in- 
sult you by offering compensation. It is reason- 
able, however, that you should have the work 
which we can bestow, and I am happy to state 
that your husband’s paper was to-day selected as 
the county journal. Here are ten public notices. 
Present the bills to the treasurer.” 


66 


WILD ROCK. 


Waving his hand the scout departed, and the 
estimable pair stood gazing at each other. Di- 
rectly they put their heads together again and 
began reading the manuscript which he left. 

“ Hubbie," said she, when they finished reading, 

I fear Robert Magruder is a very bad man.” 

‘‘Be gorrah! me gurrul, he is,” cried Frogg. 
“Didn’t he dump your husband in the bayou an’ 
lave him to die intirely ?” 

This excellent couple gazed fondly at each other 
and smiled. 

“ By my hallidome ! ‘ ’twere pity, an ’pity ’twere 
’twere true’ to disappoint so good a man as Colonel 
Bludger,” said the lady, musingly. 

The editor abstractedly dropped his hand upon 
the unsupported half-column of type and pied it. 

“Oh! Froggie, you’ve spoiled our article,” said 
she, looking curiously at her husband. 

“Faix, it’s a pity, thin,” observed the editor, 
thoughtfully regarding the heap of confusion; and 
fixing an eye on the old Dutch clock, he exclaimed, 
“ Barely time to git out the paper, me gurrul ! We 
must use the scout’s piece.” 

Wiley Eustace was surprised to read in the next 
issue of the Big Black Crow a leader which, pur- 
porting to exculpate Robert, was artfully contrived 
to throw great suspicion upon his case, and even 
sought to criminate the lawyer who defended him. 


WILD ROCK, 


67 


CHAPTER XI. 

“A poor, infirm, weak, and despised old man .” — King Lear. 

T F the scout's character was marred by faults, 
want of audacity was not among them. Leav- 
ing the wharf-boat, he rode immediately to Ma- 
gruder’s house, intending to assay the bold ex- 
pedient of persuading a father that his son was 
guilty. The old Scotchman sat in his wonted 
place upon the gallery, with the Newfoundland 
dog by his chair, and a look of painful abstraction 
on his wan features indicated that a sad subject 
flowing from his memory had left its sediment of 
vague unrest. 

The scout entered the house with a sympathetic 
tread like an ugly spider approaching a careless 
fly, and grasping the trembling palm extended by 
the old Scotchman, gave a gentle commiserative 
pressure. 

“Sorrow, Magruder, is the lot of all,” he said 
insinuatingly, as they sat down, “and it is doubly 
painful when coming through our children.” 

Bludger paused, and looked at his victim out of 
the corner of his eye. The old man only sat nurs- 


68 


WILD ROCK. 


ing his knee and gazing into vacancy. “Ah, ha 
thought the blue-bottle spider, “ I’ll weave another 
strand to my web.” 

“Often, how often! have I warned Robert 
against his connection with Marie,” said he, ele- 
vating his eyes and drawing down the corners 
of his mouth ;• “but he was infatuated.” 

“Hoolie! Bludger ! what clishmaclaver ?” cried 
old Magruder, moving uneasily in his seat, and 
putting back with his pale shrivelled hand the scat- 
tered strands of silver hair. 

The scout drew his chair nearer, and tn a low 
confidential tone proceeded: “For months, ever 
since Robert killed Wild Rock — ” 

“ Hech, man! what mean ye?” exclaimed the old 
Scotchman, drawing away ; “my bairn niver killed 
Wild Rock !” 

The scout elevated his eyebrows, the very pic- 
ture of polite surprise, and, with a shrug of his 
shoulders, proceeded: “Robert is too reticent with 
his friends, Mr. Magruder ; and since he stuffed 
the ballot-box he has been more uncommunicative 
than usual.” 

“Dan Bludger, ye do Robin wrang,” said the 
old man; “the bairn didna these things.” 

“At all events, they were not discovered,” an- 
swered the scout, carelessly; “but he will have a 
serious time for killing this girl.” 


IVILD ROCK, 


9 


“ Oh ! Bludger, man, he didna, my brave 
Robin Adair! He couldna, he couldna !” and 
the old father bowed his feeble head and wept. 

The scout looked at the poor old man with a 
face curiously blending pity and scorn; then bend- 
ing over he whispered in his ear, “They say he 
wished to hide their intimacy.” 

The fly started as he felt the spider’s sting. 
Moaning, the old man rose and tottered into the 
house. 

Bludger was looking after the retreating form 
with a rueful sneer, when Laura appeared at a win- 
dow, and, to his surprise, beckoned him to ap- 
proach. 

Entering the room opposite the parlor, he found 
himself in the lady’s boudoir. This apartment, 
which was arranged by Laura, exhibited at once 
her taste and limited means. 

Over the broad fireplace, now filled with cedar- 
boughs intertwined with budding vines, was an 
oak mantelpiece on which rested two vases holding 
early flowers. A bronze clock, whose running days 
were over, was placed between the vases under an 
oval glass globe ; and the lady had adorned this 
wreck of time with green feathers and a bird of 
paradise which she found among some of her 
mother’s head-dresses, until it presented a really 
beautiful appearance. The furniture consisted of 


70 


WILD ROCK. 


family heirlooms. Yonder high Elizabethan chair 
obviously once belonged to the prim old lady with 
the stiff ruff hanging over the mantel, and this 
Queen Anne here was certainly the resting-place of 
the genial little woman who smiles from the can- 
vas by the door. The rosewood escritoire may have 
belonged to the scholarly-looking man whose 
portrait hangs near yon window ; and the targe 
and broadsword so deftly arranged upon this wall 
were wielded, beyond doubt, by the florid ancestor 
who struts here in tartan and plaid. Everything 
in the room has a character. Even this little rock- 
ing-chair and the work-basket — don’t we know at 
a glance that these are the especial property of the 
gentle blue-eyed lady who stands yonder on the 
matting with her peculiar timid dignity receiving 
the scout ? Ah ! bonnie Annie Laurie, we are 
happy to be allowed to enter thy room even in 
company with this ugly Bludger, who now awaits 
looking at thee in awkward expectation. 

“ Captain Bludger,” said Laura, approaching 
the scout, “my brother is to be tried on a false 
accusation.” 

“Umph!” muttered the man, turning up his 
eyes and touching the tips of his fingers together. 

“Is my father intelligent?” she asked earnestly, 
touching his arm with her extended hand. 

Bludger glanced at the lady in a puzzled way. 


WILD ROCK. 71 

unable to fathom her motive. “How should I 
know ?” he cautiously asked. 

“ You have this moment talked with him,” said the 
girl. “Did he not understand your conversation?” 

“Apparently he did,” after a pause answered 
the scout, determined to see where this would lead. 

“He knows that Robert is innocent !” exclaimed 
Laura, with a triumphant smile. 

“The devil !” muttered Bludger to himself ; and 
his countenance changed as if a mask of cunning 
had slipped over his face. Smiling blandly at the 
girl, he asked, “What service can I do Robert, 
Miss Laura, with this valuable information ?” 

A door, now closed by a rolling blind, opened 
into a flower-garden next to this room, and here 
Laura cultivated the vines and roses which with- 
stand the mild winter of this semi-tropical clime. 
In the centre of this garden an arbor was densely 
covered by four musk-rose climbers, and two rus- 
tic benches were under its shade. 

Throwing open the blind, Laura beckoned the 
scout, who with an expectant expression followed 
her into the garden. She led him to the arbor, and 
seating him beside her on one of the benches, 
smilingly exclaimed, “Captain Bludger, I hear you 
are pressing this persecution of my brother, and I 
want you for my sake to stop the charge, which 
you now know is false.” 


72 


WILD ROCK. 


“By St. George!” cried the scout, looking at 
the girl with a frown, “ Wiley Eustace has a queer 
way of trying his cases.” 

“What do you mean?” she exclaimed, drawing 
haughtily back; “Mr. Eustace never asked me to 
speak to you.” 

“Unless he told you,” asked Bludger, with a 
smile of incredulity, “how did you learn that I am 
district attorney?” 

“District attorney!” said Laura, wonderingly. 
“Why, I thought Mr. Melon was district at- 
torney.” 

“True,” answered the scout, watching the effect 
of his words; “but he is sick, and requested me to 
act in his stead.” 

Oh, Bludger, Bludger ! The truth was that 
Melon was inordinately lazy, and the scout had 
written representing that a laborious murder-case 
was for trial, and asking the attorney to permit 
him to act for the State ; but the official had not 
yet replied to the letter. 

After a pause the girl leaned toward him; and 
raising her blue eyes pleadingly, she said, “Will 
you not grant my request?” 

Bludger’s arm rested on the back of the bench. 
Dropping it around the lady’s waist, he drew her 
to him, whispering, “ Anything you ask, my dar- 
ling, if you will let me — ” 


WILD ROCK. 73 

“ Hush ! What mean you, sir ?” cried Laura, 
struggling from his grasp. 

She walked rapidly toward the house, and 
Bludger, after a moment's pause, pursued with 
flushed face. 

“ Laura, stop !” he cried in a hoarse whisper, 
you, do not know me. Stop !” 

Hearing his rapidly pursuing step, the lady ran. 
The scout, his face flaming red, came after. She 
entered the door by the open blind, and he fol- 
lowed. But as his foot crossed the threshold he 
was stopped by a savage growl, and Bracken stood 
in the door. 

The Newfoundland was a dangerous-looking 
creature with his bristling hair and sharp teeth ; 
and the scout, unwilling to encounter his attack, 
turned off and walked toward a side gate which 
opened into the front yard. He paused once, but 
was started by a menacing growl at his heels, and 
looking around he saw the dog’s angry eyes and 
grinning mouth. “Confound the brute !” he mut- 
tered, and quickening his pace he went to the 
horse-rack. Here stood Bracken again, obviously 
intending to bid him adieu, for at every symptom 
of delay the dog uttered his savage growl ; and 
with an oath Bludger mounted his strong sorrel 
horse and rode toward the causeway. 


74 


WILD ROCK. 


CHAPTER XII. 

“ The charge is prepared, the lawyers are met, 

The judges all ranged; a terrible show!” 

The Beggar^s Opera. 

NTERING the town, Bludger stopped his 



horse in front of the Gum-Tree Hotel. This 
edifice faced Court Square, and was embellished 
with the customary veranda. A raw-boned, sleepy- 
looking individual sat astraddle the leather bottom 
of a hickory chair, engaged in the intellectual 
occupation of carving a head on its back. Hitching 
his horse to a swinging bough of the large sapling 
from which the house took its name, the scout 
stepped on the gallery and stood watching the pro- 
prietor; for such was the carver in wood, adorning 
his hotel furniture. 

‘‘When you finish cutting that Indian idol,” said 
Bludger, at last, “let me know if the judge has 
arrived.” 

The proprietor looked lazily up, still holding his 
one-bladed knife on the chair-back, and remarked, 
“This is a lion’s head, Cap’n Bludger, and the 
jedge is in his apartment.” 


WILD ROCK. 


75 


“Jack Jousin,” said the scout, making his pecu- 
liar sign, “you must get on the Magruder case jury. 
Do you understand ?” 

Mr. Jousin returned the mystic signal, and Blud- 
ger passed in and went to the judge’s room. 

The expounder of law, when found, was arrayed 
in a suit of soft white cotton cloth; his shoes, tied 
with raw-hide strings, were of home-tanned leather, 
and his coarse straw hat lay upon the bed on 
which he was sitting. He was a meagre little 
man, with light blue eyes; and his long hair was 
hardly whiter than his bloodless face. Extending 
a skinny hand to the scout, he cried, “ Evening, 
Cap’n Bludger; what’s on for the term?” 

^^Magruder’s case comes up first to-morrow,” 
answered the scout; “I called to see you about this 
trial. The family, who are very influential, have 
fixed up an alibi^ and this fellow Eustace, is to rep- 
resent them.” 

“Ah! Take a seat, Cap’n Bludger,” said the 
judge, dropping into a chair. “ Bad man, that 
Eustace, very bad! very bad! Just read an article 
in your county journal about this case. Can’t we 
head the rascals — head the rascals, eh?” and the little 
judge took a pinch of imaginary snuff and gazed 
inquiringly at his auditor. 

“ Have some tobacco,” said the scout, extending 
a neat box of fine-cut. “I have no snuff, but — ” 


76 


WILD ROCK. 


“Ah! Thanks. No; I never use tobacco. Never 
snuff, never smoke. Have ceased for fifteen years,” 
said the judge; and then looking longingly at the 
box, he took it in his hand, and said, “Ah! beauti- 
ful box!” Smelling the contents, he added, “Ah! 
delightful aroma! You have no idea how I should 
like to partake. But my resolve! Fm a firm man, 
Cap’n Bludger, a firm man!” and the little judge 
leaned back in his chair, tapping the box affection- 
ately. 

“As to heading the rascals,” said the scout, re- 
curring to the case, for he had often gone through 
this comedy of the snuff-box before and knew 
where it would end, “that rests with your honor, 
for they have stuffed old Magruder, who, as you 
know, is imbecile, to testify to the pretended facts.” 

“What! what!” cried the little judge, abstract- 
edly taking a pinch of the tobacco and holding it 
to his nose, “ the old Scotchman with whom I 
dined last term? A mere lunatic, sir; a raving 
maniac! Ah!” and taking a prolonged sniff, the 
judge uttered an exclamation of satisfaction. 

“ No objection to smoking ?” asked Bludger, pro- 
ducing his pipe. 

“Ah! none whatever, none whatever!” cried the 
little man, eying the meerschaum enviously. 
“ Never smoke myself, but like the aroma, the 


aroma. 


TV/LD ROCK. 77 

The scout lighted the pipe, and the curls of 
tobacco-smoke began to ascend. 

‘‘Oh! Ah!” exclaimed the little judge. “Smoke 
me, smoke me, Bludger;” and drawing his chair 
close to the scout, the latter commenced puffing 
into the judge’s face great volumes of fumid 
breath. 

“Oh! Ah! He!” half exclaimed the little man. 
And then he muttered dreamily, with closed eyes, 
“Charming, my friend; oh, how delightful, how 
charming!” 

“ The old Scotchman is not crazy, but he is 
imbecile,” said the scout, between the whiffs; “a 
case of senile dementia, perhaps.” 

“Ah, yes! Senile dementia — don’t stop — how 
delightful ! Imbecile-— puff, Bludger; smoke me, 
smoke me. Ah! ah! How charming!” and the 
little judge leaned back in ecstasy. 

The scout now took leave, forgetting his tobacco- 
box; and descending the stairs, began a prolonged 
interview with Mr. Jack Jousin, the proprietor. 
This worthy left the hotel an hour after, and so 
important was his mission that the sun was rising 
on the day of the trial when he re-entered the 
house accompanied by the seven men of the ceiled 
room. 

Groups in the court-room were discussing the 
crops, the price of cotton, and the coming trial, 


78 


WILD ROCK. 


when the little judge trotted in, with a green cotton 
umbrella trailing behind him. “Hornin’, gentle- 
men, mornin’ !” he cried, and bustling up to the 
bench, leaned over on his elbows. “Call docket/” 
he said to the clerk, who responded by shouting, 
“ State versus Robert Magruder.” 

“Bring in prisoner,” said the judge. 

At this moment a vehicle rolled up to the court- 
house door, and Laura, leaving in it her father, 
entered the room on Eustace’s arm. She was very 
pale; traces of tears were on her face. Her long, 
dark lashes drooped over her blue eyes, and the 
golden ringlets hung almost neglected about her 
sad features. Placing her chair near that kept 
for the accused, Eustace sat down beside the 
girl. 

Robert now came into the court, guarded by two 
bailiffs. His tall muscular form towered above his 
guards. The frank and ingenuous expression of 
his clear blue eye met calmly the stare of the 
crowd. His fair hair was thrown back from his 
broad open brow, and his complexion, as fine as a 
woman’s, was now heightened by a slight flush. 
A pensive and somewhat satirical smile communi- 
cated to his firm, handsome lips a striking attrac- 
tion, and an unconscious inclination of his head 
forward, characteristic of his vigorous nature, 
added to the grace of his splendid carnage. 


WILD ROCK. 


79 


Amidst a murmur of involuntary admiration, the 
young man sat down by his sister and smilingly 
pressed her hand. The trial then proceeded. 

While the preliminaries were being arranged, 
Robert looked over the room, and taking a paper 
from his pocket, asked Eustace in a low tone. 

How many of the names on this list can you 
strike off absolutely and without assigning a rea- 
son ?” 

“Twelve,” answered the lawyer. “Is that 
enough ?” 

“No,” said Robert; “unless you can eliminate 
the first thirt}^, one will do as well as another.” 

“Umph !” muttered Eustace, “so much for the 
loss of the jury-box.” 

“ The first twelve names were called, and a pecu- 
liar smile passed over the prisoner's face as they 
took their seats — a smile which their eyes avoided. 
Seven of the twelve were the men of the ceiled 
room, and Jack Jousin was foreman. 

After this jury was sworn, Robert leaned back 
in his chair and seemed to take little further 
interest in the proceedings. Bludger, who repre- 
sented the State, introduced Captain Tock to prove 
the fact of Marie’s murder; but this youth, in his 
mild manner, gazing languidly toward Laura, said, 
“ Puty gul in road — might be dead — might not — 
■can’t say.” 


8o 


WILD ROCK. 


‘‘Stand aside!” said Bludger, roughly, to the 
witness. “ Bailiff, call Colonel Jinks.” 

The Colonel did not need a call, but bustled into 
the witness-stand, and tapping his top-boots with a 
riding-whip, looked fiercely over the audience. 

“Now, Colonel,” said the scout, blandly, “tell 
the jury all you know of this girl’s death — how and 
where it occurred.” 

“ Impossible !” said the Colonel, glancing kindly 
at Laura; then he added, addressing Bludger, “ I 
do not know that it ever occurred.” 

A titter ran through the court-room, breaking 
the solemnity of the trial. Bludger endeavored to 
argue the witness into a direct statement of Marie’s 
death, but he was stopped by an objection from 
Eustace. The fact was that both Jinks and Took, 
when ordered to walk before Robert into town, 
had not observed in the darkness whether the girl 
was alive or dead, and no subsequent opportunity 
was presented for ascertaining. An abrupt con- 
clusion was thus likely to be put to the trial, by 
the total failure of the State to prove the two es- 
sentials which lawyers call the venue and corpus 
delicti ; that is, that the crime had been committed 
and within the jurisdiction of the court. 

A number of persons in the court-room could 
have enlightened the jury on one point, for they 
had attended Marie’s funeral ; but they were 


WILD IWCK. 


8l 


negroes, and, thoroughly satisfied of the prisoner’s 
innocence, they had no disposition to volunteer 
evidence. 

After an awkward pause, Bludger arose, and 
approaching the little judge, began a whispered 
conversation. Presently he turned and, throwing 
up his hand, said, “Mr. Clerk, swear me !” 

The scout was red when he faced the jury, and 
Eustace’s smile of quiet surprise did not help to 
allay his annoyance. He proceeded, however, and 
testified to the circumstances of the finding of 
Marie’s body on the causeway in this county. 

The foundation of the case was now laid ; but he 
saw that the empty gun, and other facts on which 
he had descanted, failed to impress, and that he 
could not rely on these for a verdict even from his 
own jury. In short, he became aware that he must 
have stronger evidence to connect the accused with 
the murder. 

Bludger had committed the error of fixing the mill 
without preparing the grist for the hopper. He had 
judge and jury with him, but not enough testimony. 
Looking anxiously at the clock over the judge’s 
stand, he suggested an adjournment for dinner. 
It was only eleven, and Eustace protested that this 
was a mere pretext to gain time to fish for witnesses; 
but the little judge said, “ The State seems embar- 
rassed,” and ordered a recess until afternoon. 


82 


W^LD ROCK, 


When they were leaving the court-room, Eustace 
called Swain and asked if General Griggles was in 
town. Receiving a response that he had just 
stopped at the hotel with his partner, the lawyer 
walked over there. A messenger came to the 
office soon after, and gave Swain a note requesting 
him to bring to the General’s room the record in an 
important chancery appeal. 


1 


WILD ROCK. 


83 


CHAPTER XIII. 

For twelve honest men have decided the cause; 

Who are judges alike of the facts and the laws.” 

The Honest Jury. 

T three o’clock Eustace entered the court-room 



^ ^ with General Griggles and his partner. 
Bludger was standing by a window, in low-toned 
conversation with the judge. The jury were 
seated ; and Robert leaned lightly on a hand 
which rested upon the back of his chair, regard- 
ing these men with the peculiar satirical smile 
which their eyes avoided. Laura, bending for- 
ward in rapt attention, awaited the resumption of 
her brother’s trial. 

Here, General, is Miss Laura,” said Eustace, 
approaching with his companions. Turning to 
the General’s partner, he added: “Mr. Shaw, let 
me present you to Miss Magruder.” 

The two gentlemen sat down by Laura and 
began to converse; but the judge taking his seat, 
they turned their attention to the trial. A marked 
change was now observable in the scout’s de- 
meanor. Rising, with a look of confidence, he 


84 


WILD ROCK. 


said in harsh, aggressive tones, “ Call Doctor Cole^ 
the late carriage-driver.” 

While Doc was shuffling to the witness-stand^ 
Laura leaned over and whispered in Eustace’s ear. 
He answered by a slight nod; and without turning 
his eyes, which were fixed upon the negro, he 
noted his every movement. 

The doctor’s aspect was not pleasing. Super- 
added to bewitchedness was now a wild look of 
affright, as if some ever present dread was haunt- 
ing the man. With wavering eyes, furtively glanc- 
ing about, he gave his testimony brokenly in reply 
to Bludger’s questions. 

He swore that, being in the swamp on the night 
of the murder, he saw the prisoner raise his gun 
and shoot ; and that immediately Marie threw up- 
her arms and fell. The effect of this evidence was 
great. As the negro ceased, that peculiar sigh: 
which accompanies so often in a court-room the 
unpleasant termination of an interval of suspense 
broke from the audience ; and the jurors, no longer 
avoiding the prisoner’s eye, looked at him frown- 
ingly. Conviction was inevitable unless this testi- 
mony was overcome. 

Eustace, leaning slightly forward, asked in a quiet 
tone, ‘‘Why did you leave Magruder’s service?” 

“ What does this mean ?” cried Bludger, leaping: 
to his feet. 


WILD ROCK. 85 

“ I wish to show,” answered Eustace, that the 
witness — ” 

“Stop!” cried Bludger. “I object to this most 
unusual proceeding. Let the jury retire.” 

“ Yes,” cried the little judge, “ most unusual in- 
deed! Retire, gentlemen; by all means, retire.” 

The jury was conducted to an adjoining room, 
and Eustace, rising, stated that he proposed to 
show that the witness was discharged because he 
had become unsound in mind by dwelling on the 
idea that Marie had conjured him, and that his 
testimony was in the line of his delusion and en- 
titled to little if any weight. 

“ Competency question for court,” cried the little 
judge, anticipating Bludger, who was about to 
reply. Court holds witness competent.” 

“ Your honor will oblige me by noting an excep- 
tion,” said Eustace, urbanely. 

“ Ha! Ah! What!” cried the little judge, getting 
very red. “ Except, do you ? Well, except! Yes! 
The last refuge of a bad case is except. Oh, these 
frivolous exceptions!” 

While the judge was speaking, Eustace leaned 
back and whispered to Swain, who began writing 
as if his own life was at stake; and when the 
address from the bench was concluded he handed 
Eustace a sheet of legal cap well filled. The lawyer 
made a slight change and returned the paper to 


86 


WILD ROCK. 


Swain, who soon handed him a fair copy. This 
Eustace gave to Griggles, who read it with Shaw; 
and both nodded. 

“ What are we waiting for?” cried the little judge, 
impatiently moving about. “ Bring in the jury, 
quick!” 

Eustace handed the paper to Bludger, who read 
it and was putting it in his pocket. 

“ Pardon me, dear sir,” said Eustace smiling, and 
extending his hand, “ I want that paper.” 

“By George! sir, I have not had time to read 
the thing,” cried the scout, angrily; “ and here is 
the jury.” 

“ The paper, if you please,” said Eustace, with 
his hand still extended. “ It is my property.” 

“ Now, by St. George!” cried the scout, springing 
to his feet and shaking his great red fist in Eustace’s 
face, “this is infamous, infamous!” 

Eustace raised his hand deprecatingly, and quiet- 
ly said, “ I have a copy, if you refuse to return the 
original.” 

Without answering, the scout turned to the judge 
and stated that he had many objections to the 
draft of the exception proposed by adverse coun- 
sel, which he would make known during the term. 

Eustace now took from Swain another copy 
which the young man had made, and handing it to 
the judge, remarked: “ Your honor understands 


WILD ROCK. 


87 


that every exception taken during the trial must 
be settled and allowed before the jury retires from 
the bar.” 

“ Must!” cried the fuming little judge, taking the 
paper and putting it in his pocket. “ Must! Ah! Ho! 
He! Let this trial proceed! Are we to do nothing 
else at this term but note frivolous exceptions? 
Ah!” 

“ The State’s case is concluded,” said Bludger, 
sitting down. 

“ Anything for defence ? I suppose not,” cried 
the little judge, turning fiercely upon Eustace. 
“Hurry up, sir; hurry up! Are you going to take 
all the term with your defence ? Other cases wait- 
ing! Witnesses and parties in other matters here ! 
Why don’t you hurry up ? Say, sir!” 

A bustle was now heard at the door, where old 
Magruder was being led in by Laura. 

“Have you evidence ?” cried the little judge. 
“ This is too bad. Twenty-five dollars a day does 
this court cost the people of the State, and here 
you are frittering away two dollars and a quarter 
an hour, sir, on frivolous exceptions. Hear me: I 
will not adjourn for breakfast, dinner, supper, or 
sleep until this case is concluded, and I shall limit 
the argument to five minutes on a side.” 

When the tall attenuated form of the old Scotch- 
man crossed the floor leaning on his daughter’s 


88 


WILD ROCK. 


arm, every eye except that of the judge was riveted 
upon them. He continued to talk until the wit- 
ness was on the stand, and a new object was thus 
presented to his attention. 

The prisoner’s lawyer glanced at Griggles with 
assumed calmness, and then arising and looking at 
the witness, said in a low tone: “ Referring when 
necessary to the tablets which you hold in your 
hand, answer from memory such questions as I ask. 
Where was Robert on the night — ” 

“ Stop!” cried the scout, roughly interrupting. 
“ I object to this witness’s competency, and demand 
that the jury retire until that matter is determined.” 

At the judge’s order, bailiffs again led out the 
jury. The scout now sat down, and glancing at 
the old Scotchman with a cunning expression, 
said, “ Let me see your ivory book.” He handed 
the tablets to the questioner. 

After a pause, during which the look of abstrac- 
tion, to Eustace’s dismay, settled upon the wit- 
ness’s face, Bludger asked carelessly, “ What place 
is this ?” 

“ Dinna ken,” replied the old gentleman, gazing 
vacantly about the room. “I hae tint the gate.” 

‘‘What are all these people doing here?” asked 
the scout, looking at the crowd in feigned alarm. 

“ Dinna ken,” answered poor old Magruder, anx- 
iously. “Will the thrang steer an auld man ?” 


WILD ROCK,. 


89 

‘‘Who killed Marie ?” suddenly asked the lawyer. 

“ Anan!” said the aged witness in a bewildered 
way, and he gazed helplessly toward Eustace. 

“You see how it is,” said Bludger, glancing at 
the judge, who nodded in reply. “Any questions, 
Mr. Eustace ?” he asked, with a malicious grin. 

The eagle-like face of the young man looked like 
a marble carving, so impassive was its calm amidst 
the absolute stillness of the court-room. With a 
quick movement he took the tablets and placed 
them, open at the place of the memoranda, in old 
Magruder’s hand, and, his heart beating almost 
-audibly, he cried, “ What of the puir lassie, all a 
white heap ?” 

The old Scotchman’s eye rested on the ivory 
page, and intelligence flashed back to his worn 
face, lighting up his features like the dark places 
■of some mediaeval ruin. 

“Ah, I ken, I ken!” he cried. “When the auld 
man sees the tablas he can remember a’. The auld 
man’s memory is gane — a’ gane — an’ he writ down 
thae things at the time they occurred, because his 
memory was sae short that he knew he wad forget 
them unless he wrote them down.” 

His sluggish memory was now fully aroused, 
and, with the apology that he was eighty years 
of age, he proceeded and gave an intelligent ac- 
count of the interview at the well with Doc, and 


90 WILD ROCK. 

the ride on the causeway and finding of the 
body. 

How was Robert’s gun discharged ?” asked 
Eustace, observing that he omitted this. 

Glancing at the tablets, old Magruder began, 
and without referring to them again described the 
shot at the tree and repeated the subsequent in- 
cidents. 

“ Where has that ivory book been since you wrote 
down the occurrences ?” asked the scout. 

“ I hae kept the tablas a’ the time,” said the old 
man. 

“You know nothing only as you read it from the 
book?” suggested Bludger. 

“Dinna ken,” said the old Scotchman, relapsing 
into a state of abstraction. 

“Who brought you here?” asked the scout, 
roughly, “ and what for ?” 

The poor old man looked about in feeble help- 
lessness, and seeing Eustace, he said pleadingly, 
“Let them no hurt the puir bairn.” 

Silence succeeded. In the densely crowded court- 
room the suppressed excitement was intense. Every 
one felt that the judge’s ruling on the competency 
of this witness was decisive of the case. None 
noticed the poor old father, who, slipping from the 
witness-box, stood leaning on the rail just behind 
his son’s chair. 


WILD ROCK. 


91 


Bludger arose, in the oppressive silence, and said: 
“This is a clear case of senile dementia. No person 
can be examined as a witness who has not such an 
understanding as enables him to retain in memory 
the events he has witnessed. Depositions cannot 
be read in criminal cases, much less an unverified 
memorandum.” 

Wiley Eustace arose, his face betraying no emo- 
tion except in the blue veins that stood out like 
whip-cords; and, with graceful ease, as if addressing 
a lady in her parlor, he leaned his arm lightly on 
the judge’s desk and said: “We do not propose to 
read the tablets to the jury, nor to have the witness 
examine and repeat verbatim their contents; but he 
will merely refer to the book as questions are asked, 
and this reference will so awaken h:s memory as 
to enable him to answer. He will swear to the 
facts independently of the notes. The witness is 
not wholly without memory. This faculty is so 
sluggish that it needs to be refreshed by reference 
to the notes; but when so awakened you have seen 
it was sufficient to enable him to give an exceed- 
ingly lucid account of the circumstances.” 

Eustace paused, and the judge seemed hesitating. 
Up rose Bludger, with a frown, and exclaimed: “ By 
St. George, this is ridiculous! His memory must 
be relied on to establish the facts that he made the 
memorandum on the night of the murder and has 


92 


WILD ROCK. 


kept it in his possession ever since; and if his 
memory is treacherous about the killing itself, it is 
equally so about these other vital facts.” 

^‘True, Mr. Bludger, true,” said the little judge. 

The witness is excluded.” And looking over to 
old Magruder, he added, “Your evidence, old man, 
is not needed.” 

“Thank ye, judge!” said the old Scotchman, 
smiling childishly in his face. “ May Robin Adair 
gang awa’ wi’ me ?” 

Eustace handed the little judge a paper which 
Swain had been writing during this scene, and 
said: “We except to your ruling, and tender this 
bill, which we ask shall be now signed. The case 
is closed.” 

“I will just keep it,” said the little judge, taking 
the bill, “and look over it.” 

“ No other opportunity can occur before the jury 
retire,” explained the lawyer. 

“Oh, that’s neither here nor there!” exclaimed 
the judge. “ Bailiff, bring in the jury.” 

“ Hand me the bill,” said Eustace, extending his 
Jiand. “ You refuse to sign.” 

“ I do nothing,” said the little man, sorely per- 
plexed and looking toward the scout. 

“ The bill does not present the facts accurately,” 
said Bludger, at a venture. 

“Then I refuse!” cried the little judge; and tear- 


WILD ROCK. 


93 


ing up the paper, he threw the fragments upon the 
floor. At this moment the jury returned, and 
Bludger began to address them. 

During the further progress of the trial Swain 
made three copies of each bill as originally drawn. 
These were certified by Griggles and Shaw to truly 
state the facts as they witnessed them, and one set 
was filed with the clerk just as the jury rose to 
retire; another set Eustace handed to General 
Griggles; and the third he kept himself. 

As the jury filed out after the limited argument, 
old Magruder was still clinging to the rail; and 
looking at them, he cried: “Ah ! men, turn the puir 
bairn free. He’s a gude bairn, men — a gude bairn 
is Robin.” 

The jurors averted their faces and passed into 
their room. An oppressive silence followed, and 
poor old Magruder, frightened at the stillness, 
crept along the rail until he stood behind Laura’s 
chair. 

“Annie Laurie,” whispered the old man, “will 
they hurt our Robin ?” 

Laura did not heed him, for at this instant was 
heard the tramp of the returning jury heavy with 
her brother’s fate. 

The jury was drawn up in line, and the foreman 
handed their verdict to the clerk. Old Magruder 
looked at them and laughed: “Ah! Laurie, we 


94 


WILD ROCK. 


maun take Robin hame — bonnie Robin Adair.”’ 

The words, “ We the jury find the defendant 
guilty as charged,” were succeeded by a death-like 
silence; and then a wail rose in that court-room 
which none there ever forgot. 

“ Robin, my bairn Robin ! Robin, my bairn, my 
bairn !” the old man wailed, and fell. 

They went to raise him up; but the silver cord 
was severed — broken the golden bowl. The 
troubled spirit had flown up from the battling 
passions of men to the white-winged angels of 
peace. 


WILD ROCK, 


95 


CHAPTER XIV. 

“Oh! qu’il fallut de courage i Torphelin dans le cours de 
cette marche douloureuse !” — Robert. 

T he cold moonlight was falling on old Ma- 
gruder’s house; and he lay dead in the par- 
lor. Eustace sat near a post on the gallery, the 
Newfoundland at his feet. About the porch, 
through the rooms, walked Laura, carrying now a 
piece of cloth, now a hat, aimlessly wandering, and 
searching for something, she knew not what. By 
the post on the gallery the girl saw a form sit- 
ting in the moonlight, in the chair, with Bracken 
at his feet. Was it not like her father? She could 
not bear another to sit thus to-night. 

Touching Eustace, she whispered, “ Move, please; 
your presence pains me.” And the fine-toned 
young man, comprehending her feeling, rose and 
entered the parlor where the gray-haired pastor 
was watching. 

“Ah!” said Angus Macfarlane, looking at the 
dead, “ we were boys thegither on the banks o’ 
Nith; lang syne, our forebears lived at Loch Lo- 
mond.” 


96 


WILD ROCK. 


The lawyer made no answer, but, pressing the 
old minister’s hand in silence, he sat down by the 
bier. All night they waited there, hearing the slow 
walk of Laura through the house ; and at day- 
light it ceased. 

Afterward Dinah brings coffee and bread. No 
person calls until noon; then appear men to act as 
pall-bearers. This neglect surprises Eustace, wha 
remarks upon it indignantly. The old pastor 
sighs, and shakes his head and only says, “ He was 
a gude man.” 

Later the little procession moves out the gate 
and along a ridge-road. Great oaks tower sev- 
enty and eighty feet and interlock their limbs 
across the way. Under their shadows march the 
farm-servants first, then the pall-bearers with the 
bier, and lastly old Angus and Eustace, supporting 
the pale daughter of the dead. 

A walnut-grove, surrounded by dense blue cane^ 
half hides a little chapel, and in the church-yard,, 
there by an open grave, two negroes lean upon 
their spades. About this place assemble now all 
who would do reverence to the name of Magruder. 
They are not the great ones of the earth. Me- 
chanics and laborers, in their working garb, stand 
under the shade of the trees ; a few old farmers 
are nearer the grave, where Magruder’s daughter 
is standing supported by her brother’s lawyer; and 


WILD ROCK. 


97 


the heiress, Miss Cecil, sits in her carriage without 
the circle of mourners, as if she feared to be seen. 

Opposite Laura, by the open grave, is another 
group. -Robert’s leonine face is sorrowful, but his 
grand form still towers like a column over the 
guards who stand around him. Once the young 
man looks across the grave at his sister, then he 
lowers his eyes and does not again raise them 
during the burial. 

The minister stands by the bier uncovered, his 
white hair moving in the breeze, and begins chant- 
ing the beautiful words : 

“ I would not live alway; I ask not to stay 
Where storm after storm gathers dark o’er the way.” 

But the old man’s quavering voice grows weaker, 
and in the second line breaks into sobs. 

Laura raises her eyes, and then looks inquir- 
ingly around the circle. No voice responds; and 
advancing one step, she takes up the strain. Her 
tone is weak at first, but as she proceeds the 
anguish of her sweet face gives place to a beam of 
love, her full rich contralto voice is joined by 
Wiley’s strong tenor, the laborers take up the 
hymn, and the woods seem filled with the music : 

“Where rivers of pleasure roll o’er the bright plains, 

And the noontide of glory eternally reigns.” 

And as the flood of harmony flows through the 


98 


WILD ROCK. 


walnut-grove, a smile of triumph beams amidst 
old Angus Macfarlane’s tears. 

The solemn service was said, and green sod set 
upon the old Scotchman’s grave, when Robert, 
turning from the place, walked back with his 
guards to the jail. Black people lined the way, 
and the young man’s heart was bowed when he 
saw their great dull eyes gazing at him in helpless 
sorrow. If he weathered the storm himself, he 
feared that he could hardly do aught for them; 
and it grieved his noble mind to be the centre of 
honest desires which he was unable to gratify. 

Laura was returning alone to her desolate home, 
when Eustace, who observed her solitary figure 
crossing a field, hastened and overtook her. 

Oh, Eustace !” said the girl, raising her tear- 
less eyes in anguish, “ I am wholly forsaken.” 

A look of surprise and pain crossed the young 
man’s face; but immediately he answered, “ Not 
so, Laura ; am not I here?” 

She looked at him in a startled way, and whis- 
pered hurriedly, “ Oh ! you cannot marry me now 
— the sister of a man to die — ” 

Covering her face with her hands, the poor girl 
sank shudderingly at the root of a peach-tree that 
grew in the old field. Eustace sat down beside 
her, and, taking her hands in his, said smilingly, 
"‘Your brother will be cleared of this charge.” 


WILD ROCK. 


99 


“Why mock me?” asked Laura; “he is already 
condemned.” 

“ Unjust condemnations are often reversed,” re- 
plied Eustace, kindly;^ “and to show my faith in 
Robert’s, innocence I am willing to fix our wedding 
for the day after he is released.” 

She looked into his fine, strong face and felt a 
confidence which s,he could not herself explain. 
Eustace knew that a groundless hope would fade 
when his presence was withdrawn, and therefore 
he added, “ The papers which you saw General 
Griggles sign show the judge’s errors, and the Su- 
preme Court, on these, will order another trial.” 

Laura smiled; but after thinking a moment she 
turned pale, and a look of fear came over her 
changeful countenance. 

“Does all depend on these papers ?” she asked. 

“Yes,” answered the lawyer, looking at her in 
some wonder. “ Why do you ask ?” 

“Oh! Eustace, are you keeping them?” she 
cried in alarm. 

The -lawyer looked at the lady in amazement 
now, and something like caution was in his eye as 
he said, “In my pocket.” 

“ Mercy, Eustace !” she cried, “ they will kill you 
for them. You do not know what you encounter.” 

An expression of deep sorrow settled on his fine 
aquiline face, and , he muttered, “What a pity! 


100 


WILD ROCK. 


what a pity ! These troubles have unsettled her 
mind.” 

His words were inaudible, but she divined his 
thoughts, and the idea was irritating. Risings 
hastily, she said, “ Let me go home,” and walked 
on accompanied by the lawyer. After a while she 
looked up and said, “ Eustace, be very careful. 
Save Robert, but do not risk your life.” 

“ I promise both,” answered Eustace, as if talk- 
ing to a petted child. But who stays here with 
you ?” 

‘‘Dinah remains to-day,” answered Laura, as 
she stepped upon the gallery of the old home^ 
“and to-night I stay at the parsonage.” 

“Now good-day, dearest,” said Eustace, kissing 
her cheek. “You need rest. Remember that 
Robert is perfectly safe, and retire to good 
dreams.” 

Gently pressing her hand, he bowed and hastily 
went off toward the county town. His walk was 
uninterrupted until he approached Court Square,, 
but there some singular incidents occurred. 

Two men whom he knew approached as if to> 
speak, but when he extended his hand both turned 
their backs upon him and walked away. Eustace 
was cosmopolitan, and mentally noting them as ill- 
bred, he walked onward ; but he had not pro- 
ceeded eighty yards when the scout, with two 


WILD ROCK. 


lOI 


notorious women, stood in his way. Bludger, 
pointing at him and addressing the women, said : 
^‘He’s got her, but I was there before him, ha ! ha! 
ha I” and the three, wagging their heads, laughed 
in the young man’s face. 

He walked around these, but immediately en- 
countered another man, an acquaintance, who ap- 
proached him and said, “Ah 1 the madam ! How 
is the Cyprian ?” and without awaiting an answer, 
he too, wagging his head and sticking out his 
tongue, went laughing away. Another, making 
six men whom he had encountered thus, waited 
at his office-door, and entering with him, said : “ I 
have come to consult you. The old man’s girl 
was always a bad case and he grinned at the 
lawyer. 

“What old man?” asked Eustace. 

“Oh, fudge !” cried the fellow; and putting his 
finger to his nose, he went off laughing. 

Soon afterward a seventh man, entering the law- 
yer’s office, stood before him and abruptly said : 
“ Self-defence is the only right recognized here. 
No man can retain respect unless he carries his 
life in his hand.” Wheeling about, this individual 
left as abruptly as he entered. Through the door, 
which this fellow left wide open, Eustace saw 
Bludger with three of the men he had met in the 
square wagging their heads, and sticking out their 


102 


WILD ROCK. 


tongues, and laughing as they pointed at his 
office. 

Closing the door, he lit a cigar and sat down to 
reflect upon these events. Obviously here was a 
conspiracy; but he was unable to comprehend 
what end they had in view. He was still thoroughly 
puzzled, and the room was growing dark with twi- 
light, when the door was thrown violently open 
and another man entered. This was the eighth. 
Standing right where the former stood, this one 
asked, “Are you still hanging on to Magruder’s 
case?” 

“Magruder’s case !” echoed Eustace. “What do 
you mean ?” 

The man laughed. Then approaching Eustace, 
he added in a confidential manner, “They will do 
anything. If a man stands in the way, they remove 
him. If a little blood bespatters their clothes, they 
wipe it off with their handkerchiefs.” 

Turning about, this man abruptly left the room, 
nodding back at the lawyer as he closed the door. 

Eustace now looked at his watch, and seeing' 
that it was supper-time, walked to the hotel where 
he boarded. The scout was standing with the 
seven other men upon the gallery, and the two 
women were midway of Court Square. The young 
man expected further affronts of the same kind; 
but when he met the females, they removed their 


WILD ROCK, 


103 


hats and with sly smiles bowed to the ground. 
All the men bowed, and the scout, approaching, 
began complimenting him upon the management 
of the Magruder case, saying that no other lawyer 
on earth could have fixed in the record the reversi- 
ble error. They conducted him, with a kind of 
ovation, to the dining-room, and managed during 
the evening so that each was enabled to assure 
Eustace of his boundless esteem. 

When the young man returned to his office he 
thought of this new phase of the affair. He was 
puzzled a while by the fact that almost every one 
whom he saw had assumed the aspects of the eight 
men, first aggression and afterward elaborate po- 
liteness. A little reflection led him to the belief 
that this universality was unreal, but was attribu- 
table partly to fancy and partly to the sympathy 
of the crowd with the conspirators ; for of the ex- 
istence of a conspiracy he had now no doubt. 
Moreover, he felt satisfied that Bludger and his 
seven co-workers had not abandoned their design, 
but had formed a more subtle plan to effect their 
end. That end, he inferred, related to the only 
matter which they mentioned — the Magruder case; 
and as he had the copy of the bill of exceptions, 
perhaps they were trying to get possession of this 
paper. 

When the lawyer reached this conclusion he 


104 


WILD ROCK. 


entered the middle room of his suit of apart- 
ments, which was between his office and sleeping- 
room. Here was his library and a burglar-proof 
safe. He put the paper into the safe and set the 
combination. Then walking into the back room, 
he lay down upon the bed and was quickly asleep. 

How long he remained sleeping he never knew. 
During the night he was awakened by a ticking 
sound as if some one was tampering with the 
combination, and he was about to arise when his 
door swung open and a queer procession entered 
his room. 

First walked two things with skulls for heads, 
and skeleton bodies, bearing axes red with gore. 
Next marched two' robed entirely in black gowns, 
with holes for their eyes. These carried torches ; 
and between them was a nondescript who bore 
a pole to which was fastened the raw head of a 
newly-slain ox. A black coffin was next carried 
by two men arrayed in black with corpse-like 
faces ; and on the coffin he read the name Wiley 
Eustace.” Last marched a large figure in blood- 
red, with a red hood drawn over its head, and a 
red mask ; and this one carried a long glittering 
sword. 

Thrice this singular procession marched in a cir- 
cle before his bed, and then paused. The red mask, 
pointing its glittering sword at the name upon the 


WILD ROCK. 


105 


coffin, cried thrice, in deep husky tones, “Beware ! 
Beware ! Beware !” A deafening explosion shook 
the building. The torches were extinguished. The 
lawyer tried to arise in the darkness, but a sensa- 
tion of drowsiness overpowered him, and falling 
back on the bed, he lay seemingly lifeless as the 
images of death just seen. 


WILD ROCK. 


ID6 


CHAPTER XV. 


“Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has 
with politics .” — The Duenna. 



HEN Eustace awoke, sunlight was stream- 


ing through the open blind, and a faint 


odor of chloroform was in the room. His limbs 
felt like lead, and he arose with a splitting head- 
ache. Gradually the night’s events returned to his 
mind, and hastily making his toilet, he walked 
into the library. Shelving and books were black- 
ened by the explosion, and the safe-door was swung 
back on its hinges. 

A moment’s examination disclosed that every- 
thing in the safe remained untouched except the 
copy of the bill of exceptions: this was gone. 

The lawyer walked immediately to the court- 
house. He found the clerk sitting in his office; 
and this man eyed him, as he entered, with an in- 
quisitive stare. 

“ Hand me the bill of exceptions filed in Ma- 
gruder’s case,” asked Eustace. “ Is it here ?” 

“ Surely, I don’t know,” replied the clerk. 
“ Look for yourself;” and he threw the file of 
papers in the case toward the lawyer. 


WILD ROCK, 


107 


The bill was not in them. Two copies were 
gone, and the one held by Griggles alone remained. 
Would they get that also? Eustace thought of 
telegraphing a warning, but on second thought 
concluded that he might only notify others of the 
whereabouts of the third copy, and that he had 
better trust to the old lawyer’s sagacity. 

On his way to breakfast he stopped at the post- 
office. The Crow and a letter constituted his mail. 
Hastily glancing over an article in the paper 
which, purporting to describe the trial, really 
aimed to create the belief that the bill certified by 
the two lawyers was untrue in fact and devised to 
enable a guilty man to avoid a fair conviction, he 
threw the paper aside, muttering, “ Will they never 
cease this persecution ?” and opened the letter. It 
was from an old army friend who stood at his side 
when their brigade sustained the desperate charges 
of General Lee’s army at Malvern Hill and held 
the victorious Confederates in check until McClel- 
lan’s broken columns escaped. This friend, presi- 
dent of a mining company in the Rocky Mountains, 
wanted a resident attorney at Denver, and his 
thoughts recurred to his old companion-in-arms. 
Five times his present income was offered Eustace 
as salary, but he hesitated about accepting. 

During his residence in this country Eustace had 
become identified in feeling with the people. He 


io8 


V/ILD ROCK. 


knew the great possibilities of the rich, heavily 
timbered, well-watered land, and he was loath to 
see this made a wilderness by the conflict of races. 
The class of which Percy Cecil was a type he felt 
would never act. Bludger and his set would 
plainly unless checked reduce the country to a 
pandemonium. Robert’s course he feared was er- 
roneous; and nothing remained but to separate the 
races. But he and people like him were the class 
to face this difficulty. True, he was but an indi- 
vidual; but would his departure encourage other 
earnest men to settle here ? 

After all, he thought, Laura may prefer to live 
there; and with this, he walked across to the livery 
stable, took a horse, and started for the parsonage. 
When he emerged from a cypress-break through 
which the road passed, the gables of the cottage 
arose among masses of grape, myrtle, and honey- 
suckle vines. The yard in front was filled with 
roses, and among these stood Laura, looking in her 
black dress and white sun-bonnet like a beautiful 
nun. 

She came toward him with extended hands, ex- 
claiming: “ Oh, Eustace, I am so much indebted 
to you! Robert, from whom I have just returned, 
has told me what care you took to perfect his 
appeal.” 

The lawyer thought of the safe, and answered, in 


WILD ROCK. 


109 


a disconcerted manner: “Ah! Don’t mention the 
affair. The argument at the capital is to-morrow. 
I will see Robert again to-night. Ah! Yes.” 
After a moment’s pause he asked, “ What was I 
saying ?” 

“A jumble of many things,” answered Laura, 
smiling slightly. “ But come into the sitting-room, 
will you not ?” 

“ Yes,” answered Eustace, tying the horse from 
which he had dismounted to a limb; and following 
her toward the house, he added, “I have thought 
of taking you to Colorado.” 

“What! that wild country!” she said. Eustace, 
remembering his experience of the night, smiled; 
as he thought of that of the afternoon, however, 
his brow grew dark, and he said, “It can hardly 
be wilder than this.” 

When they were seated in the little room, Laura 
turned to him and said, “ Now tell me about 
Colorado and what we shall do when we get 
there.” 

Eustace explained to her the offer, and stated his 
reasons for wishing to decline. Laura decided 
these absurd, but said sadly that she did not like 
to leave the place where the bodies of her parents 
rested. The lawyer suggested that her parents 
left their progenitors in Scotland, and such good 
people could not do wrong. So they talked the 


no 


WILD ROCK. 


matter over; and when Eustace took his leave it 
was settled that as soon as Robert was acquitted 
they should be married and live in Denver. 

Soon after Eustace took leave of his affianced 
bride. An hour later Laura was still in the sitting- 
room, thinking of their interview. She sat by the 
window looking out at the garden, when a feeling 
of some presence in the room disturbed her medi- 
tation. A hand was laid on her shoulder; and 
rising hastily, she confronted the scout. 

“Don’t look at me out of your ringlets so much 
like a wild-cat in a jessamine-vine,” he said, laugh- 
ing, “and I will make you a reasonable offer.” 

The girl shrank within herself at this man’s bold 
glance. The shudder that her sensitive nature 
felt at his proximity, however, did not prevent her 
replying with wonted dignity. 

“ What you have to say, sir, say quickly and be 
gone, for your presence is oppressive.” 

“ Hoity, toity!” cried the scout. “ What’s all this 
about? By St. George! I come to propose more 
than you have any right to expect, and you receive 
me in this manner. Well,” he continued, taking 
a seat, “your brother’s life is in my hands.” 

“I do not know,” answered Laura. “But sup- 
pose that true; what then ?” 

“If you will grant me one request — ” he began; 
but the lady interrupted him. 


WILD ROCK. 


Ill 


“ Oblige me by leaving, will you not ?” she 
asked, in a half-tremulous tone; “or, if you remain, 
I must go.” And she moved toward the door. 

Bludger stepped before her and barred egress. 

Hear me, Laura,” he said earnestly. “You know 
not my power — ” 

“ Oh! yes, I do,” she answered. “You exhausted 
it in procuring an unfair trial which cannot stand.” 

“ Ha!” cried the scout, flushing with rage, “ has 
Master Eustace been teaching you bad law ? Know, 
then, young lady, that he will never get his appeal 
without my permission.” 

“ He has it now without your permission,” an- 
swered the lady. “ Let me out of the room.” 

She moved partly around the scout; but he, 
turning and facing her again, said, “ Even if ac- 
quitted, he is still in my power. He cannot live 
unless I will it.” 

“What!” cried the girl, quivering with emotion, 
“ would you commit murder ?” 

“ For your sake, Laura,” he said, advancing a 
step and extending his arms, “ I would do any- 
thing.” 

“Mr. Bludger, ye are gaun ane vera wicked gait! 
Ye m.aunna worry this puir orphan;” and the old 
pastor, advancing through the open door behind 
the scout, stood between him and Laura. “Surely 
a gude Providence will frustrate your evil designs!” 


12 


WILD ROCK. 


“Old man,” said Bludger, with a sneer, “the 
powers above never interfere in such affairs as 
this.” 

“Out on ye, man!” cried old Angus in horror, 
raising his hands. “Ye are ane servan’ o’ the 
deil!” 

“Quite right, old gentleman,” cried the scout, 
with a bow; “and my master never forsakes his 
followers at the pinch. Ha! ha! ha! A better ser- 
vice than yours, old man!” 

“Laura,” cried he after the retreating figure of 
the girl, who had escaped during this colloquy, 
“ remember my words!” » 

She paused and looked back. “ What do you 
mean ?” she said. “ Be explicit, sir!” 

“By George!” cried the scout, “unless you 
promise, Robert shall die.” 

Without a word Laura walked into another room, 
closing the door behind her; and the old pastor 
opened the front entrance, and said, “ Gude-day, 
Mr. Bludger, gude-day! gude-day!” Putting his 
hand on the scout’s broad back, he gently urged 
him into the yard. 

The sorrel horse stood at the gate, and Bludger, 
mounting, galloped to a telegraph-station eight 
miles up the causeway. Leaping from the saddle, 
he entered and cried to the operator, “Call the 
capital!” 


WILD ROCK. 1 13 

“Well,” said the youth, presently, “the capital 
is ready. What shall I send ?” 

“This,” answered the scout; and he handed him 
a form on which was written: 

Red Head : 

Get the thing. 

Black.” 

The operator smiled, and, sitting at his instru- 
ment, began ticking away; while Bludger again 
mounted the sorrel and rode to his home. 

Robert meantime was in jail. A small window- 
less box, lined ^yith oak slabs heavily studded with 
spikes, was the cell of the condemned; and here the 
young man sat on a stool which constituted its 
furniture. His face rested in his hands. None 
here had seen any weakness in Magruder; least of 
all the coarse turnkey who, thrusting him into the 
place, told how its last occupant, a brutal child- 
killer, hanged himself from the grating overhead. 
But alone now with his reflections, a shadow 
crossed the strong spirit, and he groaned, “ What 
have I done to suffer thus?” Like an answer rose 
the scene in ideal presence: 

The interior of an old school-house, guarded 
without by foolish black men; a tin box, unpro- 
tected save by the silent majesty of right; the 
ballots, witnesses of the people’s choice, substi- 


WILD ROCK. 


II4 

tuted by others; liberty’s stream polluted at its 
source. 

“Why should I be singled out for punishment ?” 
muttered the young man. “ How common has 
this become ?” 

Ay, Robin ! but thou art no common man. 
Wretched creatures may grovel in the mire, and 
rise and dance down their miserable ways with the 
slime of corruption sticking to their rags. But 
thou, Robin, with thy clear intellect, giant strength, 
and splendid powers mightst have attained the lof- 
tiest achievements. For men like thee, O Robin 
Adair, no slums were made. Like Lucifer, thy 
glory must be unblemished or thy fall complete. 


WILD ROCK. 


115 


CHAPTER XVI. 

“ But John P. 

Robinson he 

Sez they didn’t know everythin’ down in Judee.” 

The Biglow Papers. 

A t the capital was Blues’ Bank, kept by two 
brothers — Cal and Ral. This was a respect- 
able old bank, and it occupied the ground-floor of a 
venerable building opposite the Capitol green. 
Law-offices were on the floor above, and that of 
counsellor Griggles was directly over the vault. 
An air of hoary wisdom pervaded the place, ex- 
pressive of experience equal to every emergency. 
Few persons mistook for slumber this apparently 
docile repose, and those who did were apt to be 
startled by the vitality of the old lawyer and the 
venerable bank. 

The old lawyer was never known to ask for a 
fee, and the old bank had never refused a request 
for accommodation. But somehow old Griggles’ 
feeless cases advanced in a circle, and Blues’ Bank 
— well, it had a venerable ledger, very large and 
bound with iron bands. 


ii6 


WILD ROCK. 


A tradition existed that this old book was pur- 
chased at the bankruptcy-sale of the effects of a 
firm that had a crazy book-keeper. The assignee 
and court and creditors had all looked over the 
interminable columns of figures, seeking light upon 
the affairs of the insolvent firm, but the longer they 
looked the greater grew their confusion, and when 
symptoms of insanity began to appear among the 
investigators, the court,/ri? bono publico^ ordered the 
assignee to sell the old volume instantly for cash; 
and brother Ral, who thought he could utilize the 
book, purchased it for a few dollars. When a 
creditless gentleman applied for a loan, or a sus- 
picious character wanted some forbidden informa- 
tion, the brothers never declined, but with an 
affectionate smile old Cal would say, “ Brother 
Ral, examine our ledger and see.” Old Ral would 
take down the iron-bound ledger, and after a while,, 
if the applicant still persisted, would remark, “ I 
can’t find it;” and turning the book to the inquirer 
say, “ Look now at this ! ” and leaving him with 
the tome, go back to his business. An hour’s 
search would invariably bring the searcher, with 
strained eyes and a racking headache, to the old 
banker’s desk with the Request, “Won’t you 
look ?” “ Oh yes,” the old men would say, with 

the smiles of little children — “ when we have 
time.” “ But when will you have time ?” “ When ? 


WILD ROCK, 


7 


Ah! To-morrow, or next week, or some time. 
Call again; we’ll be so glad to see you.” 

Toward this venerable pile two gentlemen 
strolled on the afternoon last mentioned. One 
was a mild-looking youth with dreamy eyes; and 
as they sauntered leisurely down the street he 
observed, glancing over his companion’s shoulder 
at some passing ladies, “ Puty guls, by Jove!” 
The other, a military little man with high-top 
boots, fiercely twirled his mustache and cried, 
“Telegraph-office, by gar !” Accordingly the gen- 
tlemen turned the corner and entered the temple 
of ticking. 

“ Red Head ?” suggested the dreamy youth in- 
quiringly to the flaming-haired son of Erin who 
bobbed up behind the counter. 

“Fifty cints,” remarked the boy, throwing a 
freshly sealed envelope to the visitors. 

Languidly opening the despatch, the youth read, 
glancing at his military companion, “ Get the 
thing;” and then throwing the paper back upon 
the counter, asked the boy, with an air of gentle 
reproach, “Why give me this ?” 

“Why, yer sid rid hid, didn’t yer ?” asked the 
son of Erin, flushing to the tips of his ears. 

“ Why, yes, my youthful friend,” said the mild- 
eyed young man, raising an eye-glass and gazing 
at the boy’s flaming hair, “But when— aw— one 


ii8 


WILD ROCK. 


states — aw — a fact one doesn’t ask — aw — for a tele- 
gram, by Jove;” and leisurely turning, the two 
gentlemen sauntered out of the office. 

Down the street they strolled, and by the merest 
accident, as it were, turned into the bank. When 
inside, the mild-eyed youth assumed an airy style, 
and advancing to the nearest brother with extended 
palm, exclaimed, “ How now. Rally! Do you 
locate me, by Jove ?” 

Old Ral looked up with a genial smile, and 
cried “ Locate you ? Why, who could forget Mr. 
—eh ?” 

“Red,” suggested the mild-eyed youth. “Now 
I said to Head, ‘ Head,’ said I, ‘ old Rally never 
forgets a face.’ ‘I’ll wager he has forgotten us 
both. Red,’ said Head, ‘and so has old Cal.’” 

“Never!” cried Cal, coming forward with effu* 
sion. “Who could fail to remember General 
Head ?” 

“By the way, Cally, me boy,” said the dreamy 
youth, stepping carelessly in front of his compan- 
ion, who was examining the position of the vault, 
“ oblige us with the Magruder record. Counsellor 
Griggles is waiting.” 

“ Certainly,” said old Cal, with an air expres- 
sive of the exquisite pleasure which he felt in 
obliging his friends; and then turning, he said, 
“ Brother Ral, take out the ledger and see.” 


WILD ROCK. 


II9 

Old Ral pulled down the tome, and began run- 
ning his finger up and down the endless columns 
of figures; but his eye did not follow. Under the 
broad-faced spectacles it was glancing uneasily 
about — now at old Cal, now at the military man, 
who stood too near the vault,, and now at the dusty 
old clock on the wall whose hands stood at ten 
minutes of four. Scratch, scratch went the pens, 
tick, tock, the old clock, and brother Ral sat by 
the open ledger. 

Bang! bang! bang! bang! sounded the hour at 
last; and old Ral, closing the book with a thud, 
exclaimed, “ Clock struck four; shut the door!” 

Brother Ral and brother Cal hovered about the 
two visitors, and finally, with sympathetic smiles, 
ushered them out on the sidewalk. Here the 
military gentleman made a stand. “ By gar !” said 
he, “ when will you tell about the record ?” 

“ Really,” said old Cal, with a benevolent gleam 
in his kindly eyes, we have not found the entry. 
Return to-morrow, or next week, or some time. 
We’ll be so glad to see you.” 

The door was closed; and the visitors stood gaz- 
ing quizzically at each other. Pointing to an orna- 
mental apex on the dome of the Capitol across the 
way, the military man observed, “ An acorn, be 
gar!” 

No,” answered his mild-eyed companion. 


120 


WILD ROCK. 


puty magnolias, be Jove!” And locking their 
arms, the two worthies strolled leisurely across the 
way, and walked under the rock-arches into the 
rotunda of the Capitol, 

In the banking-house, after their departure, the 
clinking of coin and scratching of pens, mingled 
with the steady ticking of the old time-keeper, were 
the only sounds for half an hour] and then . Cal, 
throwing the last gold piece into a box, turned his 
kindly eyes toward his brother, who responded 
instinctively. 

“Brother Ral, Red!” said the one. 

“ Brother Cal, Head !” cried the other. And after 
a moment’s pause, he added, “ This bank was 
never robbed.” 

Another pause ensued, during which the broth- 
ers put everything into the vault, and fastened its 
locks and drew its bolts. Then old Ral, looking 
steadily at his companion, said, “ Stay here, 
brother Cal; I’m going for the babies.” 

Old Cal sat down by the vault and waited. It 
was raining without, and darkness came on apace. 
The good old gentleman felt nervous, when sud- 
denly a violent thumping was heard on the door. 
Old Cal opened it with a beating heart, and in 
marched brother Ral with his seven stalwart babies 
— each over six feet high, and developed in pro- 
portion. 


WILD ROCK. 


121 


They were clad in long water-proofs, with hoods 
coming over their heads; and when they mounted 
the huge vault of masonry and laid their pistols 
across their knees, they looked like sentries on the 
tomb of the Capulets expecting an attack of 
the Montagues. 

Hour after hour was struck by the big clock, and 
nothing was seen in the dim light of the single 
low-turned burner save the shadows of the old 
bankers walking here and there, and nothing was 
heard but the occasional movement of one of the 
young giants changing his position on the vault. 

After the stroke of twelve, however, dull rapping 
was heard overhead; a crackling noise succeeded, 
and in a moment half the floor of Griggles’ office 
fell into the bank with a crash, disclosing the 
rifled room charred and yet burning, and the 
gentlemanly visitors, Mr. Red and Mr. Head, 
ready to leap down upon the vault. 

The military gentleman, whose eyes, unaccus- 
tomed to the glare, could not at once distinguish 
objects in the darker bank, leaned over the hole 
and thrust down his body. Seven cold pistol-bar- 
rels touched his face at once. *‘Ugh!” cried he; 
and leaping up, he ran out through the office-door, 
followed by his mild-eyed companion. 

Next morning, just as the clock struck ten, old 
Griggles came downstairs, calmly as if he had not 


122 


WILD ROCK. 


been half an hour contemplating the wreck of his 
office; and entering the bank, with his cast-iron 
smile, he said quietly, ‘‘ Magruder record.” 

Mr. Cal, beaming kindly, handed the paper to 
the lawyer, who made a formal bow, and, turning, 
like an automaton, marched over to the Capitol. 
As he passed under the arches, an old gentleman, 
wearing a benign countenance strikingly like the 
statue of Benjamin Franklin in front of Indepen- 
dence Hall, appeared upon the balcony above, and 
leaning on a gold-headed cane, looked carelessly 
down the wide avenue which stretched for a mile 
before his view. “Oh yes, oh yes!” remarked 
this old man, addressing himself seemingly to 
creation in general. “The Supreme Court is now 
open pursuant to adjournment.” No one appeared 
to notice the remark, and, after gazing placidly 
over the scene awhile, he turned and followed 
Griggles into the court-room. 


WILD ROCK. 


123 


CHAPTER XVII. 


“He should have lived, 


Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense, 
Might in the times to come have ta’en revenge.” 


Measure for Measure. 


IGHTS flash from the windows of the Ma- 



' gruders’ homestead, and in the rooms where 
Laura has lived from childhood neighbors have 
just witnessed her marriage. A shadow of regret 
rests upon her pure Grecian features, for to-mor- 
row she leaves the old place forever; but in her 
deep blue eyes fixed on Eustace’s dark eaglet face 
is a wife’s tender trustfulness. 

Robert stands near his sister and her husband. 
Something softens the strong lines of his leonine 
countenance, and, slightly bending his head, he 
says, “ Little sister, I have given you into safe 
hands; I know by my own case.” 

“Counsellor Griggles suggested the writ of 
Habeas Corpus,” says Eustace, deprecatingly. “ It 
occurred to him, he said, when preparing the 
argument for the Supreme Court which greatly 
aided me in obtaining a reversal of the sentence.” 

“Whatever he may have suggested,” says Rob- 


124 


WILD ROCK. 


ert, with a smile, “ I know that my unconditional 
discharge was due to your examination of Doctor 
Cole. By the way, he has been sent to the insane 
asylum.” 

^‘Poor negro!” murmurs Laura. “Marie was 
slain, then, by a lunatic. I knew that no one could 
have enmity to the girl.” 

Counsellor Griggles now approaches, and, mak- 
ing his automatic bow, congratulates the bride and 
bridegroom; then with a mysterious look he 
touches the latter’s arm and takes him aside. 

“ Eustace, I have heard of your examination of 
Cole, and how he went all to pieces when you 
showed him a bone wrapped in lead-foil,” says the 
old counsellor, confidentially. “ Now, my dear sir, I 
should like to know how you accomplished that 
result — a matter of practice, you know, Eustace; a 
matter of curious practice, eh ?” 

The young lawyer smiles at the general’s clumsy 
attempt to disguise his curiosity, and proceeds: 
“ After old Mr. Magruder’s death, his tablets fell 
into my hands; and examining them at leisure, I 
found a scrap of a conjuration-song about getting 
a round snake-bone. Its proximity to the old 
man’s notes of the interview near the well with 
Doc Cole suggested the possibility that if he was, 
as I suspected, the girl’s slayer, he had loaded his 
gun with such a charge.” 


WILD ROCK, 


125 


“ Admirable deduction !” exclaimed old Grig- 
gles. “ But how did you proceed, and how keep it 
secret ?” 

“ On the morning of the hearing I obtained an 
order from the judge to exhume the girl’s body. 
No one knew the result until the examiner brought 
me the bone just as Cole took the stand.” 

“ It’s a wonder the little judge did not warn 
Bludger, and he the negro !” exclaims old Grig- 
gles. 

, “ They had no time for consultation. I asked 
for the order after he opened the hearing. But 
the conduct of Bludger puzzled me. From the 
moment the saw the direction for examining the 
body he appeared to grow nervous; and when the 
bone was produced I thought he would fall to the 
floor, he became so livid.” 

“Singular!” says the old man, thoughtfully. 
“ Bludger is a dangerous man. Do you know I 
hardly believe he will let young Magruder alone 
even now? In fact, I heard this evening the hotel 
man (Jack Jousin, I believe he is called) talking to 
an ugly grizzled specimen of humanity near my 
window. They were unaware of my presence, and 
Jousin said that Bludger could not afford to spare 
Magruder for fear of the latter’s revenge.” 

The gentlemen are silent awhile, and then re- 
turn to Laura; but Bessie Cecil, passing Griggles 


126 


WILD ROCK. 


as he speaks and catching his last words, hurries 
across the room to her father. 

“ That Bludger is going to kill Robert Magru- 
der,” she cries, her gray eyes dancing with excite- 
ment, “and you, father, can prevent the crime !” 

Percy Cecil, who is leaning gracefully near a 
window, his elbow resting on a flower-stand, slowly 
turns his eyes from contemplation of the garden, 
and looks in surprised inquiry at his daughter. 

“ Oh, don’t look at me that way !” says the ' 
girl, stamping her foot impatiently. “You know 
what this thing means, and you can keep them 
from hurting him.” 

“ Even if I could,” says Cecil, solwly, “ I see no 
reason why I should jeopard my life for his. This 
evening I am here on your entreaty only; and I 
shall do no more.” 

“ Do you mean you will allow a great crime to 
be perpetrated without taking measures to pre- 
vent it ?” she says with flashing eyes, in a husky 
tone of suppressed passion. “ Then you approve 
the murder.” 

“ No,” answers her father, calmly. “ Many things 
occur which we disapprove, yet we care not to 
hazard fortune and life to prevent their occur- 
rence.” 

She pauses awhile, her foot tapping impatiently 
against the matting; then she says, “ Who are 


WILD ROCK. 1 27 

likely to be banded with the scout ? You know 
he will not try it alone !” 

“ Cecil starts and gazes curiously at his daugh- 
ter. Then he writes eight names with his gold 
pencil on a leaf of his note-book, and tearing it 
out, hands the list to her. She reads the names of 
Bludger and the seven others of the ceiled room; 
and her father taking back the paper, slowly tears 
it into small pieces and scatters them. 

She is about to address another remark to her 
father, when he beckons to Griggles, who is passing 
and laughingly says, “Young Magruder informs' 
me that his enemies attempted to destroy his bill 
of exceptions in order to defeat his appeal; but 
this I suppose is untrue as absurd.” 

“ Why absurd ?” asks the lawyer, with a noncom- 
mittal expression on his time-worn countenance. 

“ Can you not prove the contents of a lost 
record ?” triumphantly asks the iron-gray gentle- 
man. 

“ You can try,” says old Griggles, with a dry 
smile, “and enough burglars upon the other side 
can outswear you.” 

“Umph !” exclaims Cecil. “ Daughter, the night 
is passing. Let us take our leave.” 

The departure of Cecil and his daughter does 
not affect the company, who remain until an early 
hour in the morning. A negro at the gate then an- 


128 


WILD ROCK. 


nounces a steamer in sight; and Laura reappears^ 
after a moment’s absence, wearing a travelling- 
dress. Their friends now say farewell; Eustace 
puts his wife into a carriage, her brother follows, 
and the three are driven to the wharf-boat. 

Heedless of their signal, this boat goes coughing 
up the river, and the travellers sit down with Rob- 
ert to await another steamer whose black smoke 
rises in the dawning light above the willows around 
a great bend some twenty miles away. A thump- 
ing sound begins soon after in the wharf-boat. 

“Hark! What is that noise?” anxiously asks 
Laura. Robert, stretched on a bench, yawns drow- 
sily, and says, “ Rats. These old hulks harbor 
them.” But Eustace, who is looking around 
the partition-wall behind which they sit, laughs 
lightly and remarks: “This however, is a Frogg. 
What can he be printing before sunrise? Ha!” 
The exclamation is caused by the gloved hand of 
Bludger, which reaching, from another screen, takes 
a moist sheet from the press. 

Three landings are made in the bend; and it is 
high noon when the steamer lays her guards 
against the wharf-boat. She proves to be the 
Golden Lily, from New Orleans bound for Cincin- 
nati, Solomon Shingle master — a large and hand- 
some boat. 

The Newfoundland Bracken leaps upon the boat 


WILD ROCK. 


129 


and turns toward Laura. Robert conducts his 
sister across the staging, and they ascend into the 
long glittering cabin; but Eustace remains upon 
the wharf-boat to see after their trunks. He steps 
on the stage just as the head-line is cast loose, 
taking^ at the moment a printed sheet which Frogg 
thrusts into his hand. Glancing at this paper his 
brow darkens, and he hurries immediately to the 
upper deck. 

Here stands a very young man, who appears to 
command the boat. Looking up occasionally with 
an apologetic air to an old fellow in the pilot- 
house, he suggests rather than orders the move- 
ments. Brix is the old man at the wheel. His 
long white beard was black when he steered the 
Copper Lily for this young captain’s grandfather, 
and he wore it slightly grizzled on the Silver Lily 
which the youth’s father commanded. 

Brix,” says the infant master to his old nurse of 
a pilot, “perhaps if you were standing here it 
would occur to you to back her.” Brix backs her, 
and the boat slowly recedes from the wharf. 

“Brix,” the infant observes as the steamer 
moves out into the current, “if you stop the lar- 
board wheel and go ahead on the starboard, per- 
haps she will look up the river.” Old Brix stops 
one engine and starts the other forward, and the 
graceful Lily turns her prow to the current. 


WILD ROCK, 


130 

“ Now, Brix, what do you think of the propri- 
ety of turning her loose on both sides ?” The old 
pilot considers this suggestion awhile, and then 
sets some bells jingling, and the great steamer, 
dashing the foam before her, begins ploughing the 
mighty current of the Mississippi. 

Wiley Eustace bows to the infant, and ascending 
an open stairway, sits down on a high bench in the 
glass abode immediately behind the old pilot. 
Soon the pilot’s boy is steering, and old Brix is 
seated beside the lawyer reading the printed slip. 
An hour later Eustace is about to descend, when 
Laura appears on deck with Robert and they play- 
fully ask him to come down from the clouds. 

* 

Cecil’s pretty daughter is swinging in a ham- 
mock under an oak-tree on her father’s grassy lawn, 
when Paccolett rides up on Barbara, her spirited 
bay, and slipping off the saddle, hands a network 
pouch to the lady. 

Bessie has just dined, and feels languid. She 
throws the pouch aside, and leans backward in her 
swing and closes her bright gray eyes. 

Paccolett lingers uneasily; erelong he says. 

Miss Bessie, sumfin in mail !” 

Opening her eyes in languid surprise, the lady 
glances at the boy. “ Hand me the pouch,” she 
says; and opening it, she takes out a printed slip. 


WILD ROCK, 


13 


This is the publication which Eustace has upon 
the steamboat. A column of strong denunciation 
of Robert Magruder as a traitor to his race and an 
inciter of negro insurrection closes with the state- 
ment that he has announced his determination to 
kill Daniel Bludger at sight; and this is attested 
by eight names — the names which her father 
showed her at Magruder’s last night. 

Deathlike sickness overpowers her for a moment. 
Then springing from the hammock, she cries, 
^‘Paccolett, bring Barbara !” 

“Him at de gate,” says Paccolett; and Bessie, 
running to the mare, seizes the bridle, and in a 
minute is galloping toward town. 

Paccolett climbs upon the horse-block, and look- 
ing at her disappearing form as the fine mare goes 
tearing over the road, thrusts his hands into his 
pockets and exclaims, “ Jewhilikins !” Then slip- 
ping down again, he makes a ring in the dust and 
begins playing marbles. 

% % ^ Hi * ^ 

The Golden Lily is beautiful, slowly approach- 
ing the town in the yellow light of a setting sun. 
Two men stand on the forward deck. The slight one 
is earnestly scanning the avenue which leads from 
the landing to Court Square. Suddenly he turns 
to his companion, who has been reading a paper. 

“You announced no such purpose,” says Eustace 


132 


WILD ROCK. 


to Magruder, who holds the printed charges in his 
hand. “ Am I correct ?” 

‘‘Assuredly!” answers Robert, abstractedly.. 
“That statement is as false as the preceding.” 

“Then what means this paper?” asks Eustace,, 
taking the sheet. Pointing at the eight names, he 
adds, “They offer a multitude of witnesses.” 

A singular smile gleams in Magruder’s face.. 
“ It means,” he says, in a constrained tone, “ that 
I am condemned, and these are my executioners 

Eustace starts, but makes no reply. He gazes- 
at Laura, who sits near the wheel-house looking 
out over the burnished sun-path in the water.. 
Presently turning to Robert, he lays his hand on 
his shoulder and says, “ Do not return. Your life is 
worth more than this. Go with us to the great West.”’ 

Magruder silently looks at his sister, and am 
expression of pain crosses his fine countenance. 

“Yonder,” exclaims Eustace, pointing to the- 
west, where the sun is sinking amidst amber and 
gold, “ is life, happiness, hope. Back there,” wav- 
ing his hand to the dismal swamp, where night is- 
casting shadow after shadow, “ is despair and 
death ! Stay with us, Robert.” 

The young man’s form expands in its splendid 
proportions, and throwing back his lion-like head,, 
he exclaims, in deep, firm accents: “Back there^ 
Eustace, is my home ; and there shall I return^ 


PV/LD ROCK. 133 

though the trees were bearing dragon’s teeth, and 
the ground bristling with bayonets !” 

After a painful moment of thought Eustace lays 
his hand upon the young man’s shoulder, and look- 
ing into his face, says, “I shall remain with you 
and see the end of this affair.” 

“Useless!” answers Robert, abstractedly gazing 
at the evening scene. “ They may not attack for 
a month or a year. No one can tell the time or 
place, and you cannot be with me always.” 

While he speaks the staging is lowered ; and 
hastily kissing his sister and pressing Eustace’s 
hand, the young man descends into the cabin and 
soon appears upon the levee. Here he stops and 
waves an adieu to Laura and her husband. 

Bracken has followed him ashore, and now runs 
about sorely puzzled. At last the Newfoundland^ 
with a short bark, looking up into Robert’s eyes, 
leaves him, and crossing the stage joins Laura 
upon the steamer. Rough deck-hands note the 
scene, and make way for the dog as they whisper 
together in groups. The signal - bell taps, the 
wheels churn; and standing on the after-guards, as 
the boat moves slowly away, Eustace and his bride 
look over the water at their brother’s tall form 
carved on the background of willows, with dark- 
ness falling around him. 


134 


WILD ROCK. 


In a room at the court-house the little judge is 
sitting by a table with an open book before him. 
He has read an article in the newspaper blaming 
his action in the release of Magruder, and he is 
now reading up the authorities to satisfy his mind. 

A noise is heard without. The door flies open, 
and Bessie Cecil enters, her hair falling about her 
shoulders, her cheeks flushed, and eyes sparkling 
with excitement. 

“ Prevent this murder !” cries the girl, earnestly. 
“You have not a moment to lose.” 

“ Bless me !” says the little man, dropping his 
book, “ what can I do ?” 

“Do!” cries Bessie, stamping her little foot. 
“Arrest these men ; they will kill Robert Magru- 
der!” and she thrusts the printed slip before the 
little man’s eyes. ^ 

He reads the paper, and rising, with a helpless 
look, ambles up and down the room, rubbing his 
hands and exclaiming, “ Oh ! what shall I do ? 
Oh, for a precedent! if I just had a precedent! 
What shall I do ?” 

The deep-toned whistle of the steamer floats in 
the darkening air. Springing toward the little 
man, Bessie seizes his arm. “ Quick ! quick !” she 
cries ; “ he is on that boat ! Hark ! I hear the 
beat of its wheels in the water. Another moment 
and you are too late !” 


WILD ROCK. 


135 


“Grasping a book, the little judge turns over the 
leaves. Then dropping it he takes another, ex- 
claiming all the while, “What shall I do ? Oh, 
if I just could find a precedent !” 

“Dolt !“ cries the girl ; and then she stands lis- 
tening. The wheels have ceased. “ Perhaps it is 
not yet too late,” she says, turning to the judge. 
“ Oh ! I entreat you, arrest these men ; prevent 
this crime !” 

“My stars! my stars!” whimpers the little fel- 
low, ambling about in renewed distress; “was 
ever man so beset ! Oh, young lady ! can you cite 
me a precedent ?” 

Bessie is standing near a window, her finger on 
her lips, gazing intently into the fallen night. A 
cluster of dark figures approach from the river 
bearing a limp human form. They cross the 
green and enter the court-house; and as their 
steady tread resounds through the hall a death- 
like pallor settles on the girl’s face, and huskily 
she whispers, “Too late ! too late !” 

“Ah, ha!” exclaims the little judge, trium- 
phantly, approaching her and gleefully pointing to 
an open book which he holds. “See here, young 
lady; I’ve found the precedent. Now let me 
copy—” 

Heedless of the little man, the girl walks down 
the hall, where the men who have borne in the 


36 


WILD ROCK. 


body respectfully uncover and stand as she passes; 
and taking her palfrey, she returns toward her 
home. At the gate she is met by Cecil, who offers 
his arm for her to dismount ; but she, with a stony 
stare, says, “He is dead; you could have saved 
him !“ Without a word, the father turns from his 
daughter and walks into the house. 

^ ^ 

Robert stood viewing the steamer until its 
graceful proportions were hidden behind the 
upper bend, and then, turning from the river, 
walked slowly up the avenue toward the court- 
house. In front of the residence which contained 
the ceiled room Bludger was standing with five 
men of the mystic society. Magruder turned, in- 
tending to retrace his steps and avoid an en- 
counter. But the scout called, and the men pre- 
pared to shoot. Facing the six, Robert drew his 
revolver. At this instant, two approaching from 
behind plunged their daggers into his back. 
Looking at these men with unutterable scorn, he 
fell and died without a groan. 


WILD ROCK. 


137 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


“ I fear I wrong the honorable men 
Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar.” 


Julius Ccesar. 



AST summer unexpected business carried me 


' to the mountain-city of Denver. The train 
reached its destination, I supped at mine inn,” 
and then consulted the city directory. A familiar 
name attracted me; and erelong I was approaching 
a handsome suburban residence. Over the lawn, 
as I entered the gate, a great Newfoundland dog 
came bounding. Welcoming the visitor with a 
joyous bark, he escorted him to the brilliantly 
lighted edifice. 

A handsome, dark-eyed boy stood on a portico, 
with his arm about the slender waist of a golden- 
haired maiden; and under the gas-lights the 
youth’s manly bearing contrasted with the girl’s 
willowy grace like another Wiley and Laura. 

At a window stood a matronly lady whose deep 
blue eyes and classic bearing I thought I recog- 
nized. A moment after Eustace’s aquiline face, 
somewhat more rounded than when I saw him last, 
but decidedly handsomer, appeared beside his 
wife’s. 


38 


WILD ROCK. 


This, then, is the family of Eustace, and this his 
Western home! What longings has his fair wife, 
I wondered, for the country where she was reared ? 
I pulled the bell with these reflections, and a mo- 
ment after stood in the parlor, exchanging greet- 
ings with old friends. 

Early in the night the comely children retired, 
followed by the old dog. Observing my glance of 
inquiry, the father said: “Bracken is devoted to 
them. Every night he sleeps at their door. But 
his affection is greater for the boy.” 

On a portico with Eustace after his charming 
wife left us, I remarked, as I sipped his old wine : 
“ The Newfoundland is more attached to your son 
Robert. I do not wonder. Do you not see the re- 
semblance ?” 

“ To his uncle ? Yes. This is doubtless the 
cailse of the old dog’s love.” 

Eustace lit a cigar and smoked in silence. We 
were looking out at the distant mountains, silvered 
with moonlight on their snowy summits. “In a 
valley yonder,” he said, pointing to the hoary 
peaks, “ is young Tock’s grave. He was scalped 
while scouting for Indians, after the dispersion of 
Bludger’s band.” 

“ What became of those men of the mystic tie ?” 
I asked. 

“ Fatal is his error,” answered Eustace, thought- 


WILD ROCK, 


139 


fully, “ who commits crime supposing it popular. 
The public sense will invariably revolt. After 
Robert’s death a brand was silently placed on 
those men. No hand was raised against them, but 
in every eye they read the verdict, ‘Murderer!’ 
The organization fell to pieces. They never met 
in the ceiled room again. Men involuntarily 
shunned them; and one after another they became 
vagabonds on the earth.” 

“And Bludger?” I asked, with deep interest. 

“A curse seemed on the man. His vast energy 
was palsied, and he wandered about vainly seeking 
surcease of sorrow. Habits of drink increased, he 
recklessly squandered his fortune, and at last he 
was found, one morning, in bed at the hotel, fault- 
lessly dressed, with the dagger that killed Ma- 
gruder buried in his heart. He died by his own 
hand to escape the horror of life.” 

Awhile I sat listening to the chiming of a distant 
bell, and thinking of this terrible thing, retribution; 
then, remembering the news-boys at the train on a 
recent visit to the South, I said, “ The Big Black 
Agriculturist — this isn’t Frogg ?” 

“Yes,” replied Eustace, with a smile, pouring 
me a glass of sherry wine. “ After Bludger’s power 
ceased, the editor became quite a respectable per- 
son. Percy Cecil’s influence became apparent. 
The change of name, and the black man at the 


140 


WILD ROCK. 


head of the paper, attracted the negroes, who are 
learning to read, and its circulation increased. 
Frogg became a useful man, and is now, by the 
way, advocating the railroads and factories which 
are building in the Delta.” 

“ Has Doc recovered his senses ?” I asked after 
another pause, taking my hat preparatory to bid- 
ding good-night. 

Eustace arose and, standing on the gallery, re- 
plied: “Doctor Cole is yet in the asylum. Usually 
he is amiable and quite entertaining. But at 
night, when the sky is clouded and the wind is 
high, he may be seen by the lightning-flashes 
through his grated window invoking the mysteri- 
ous Voodoo power whose chariot-wheels make 
thunder and whose breathing is the storm.” 

I walked through deserted streets and com- 
muned with memories in darkness. Wild Rock is 
dead. The Magruders sleep in the valley. Eustace 
is no longer there. Race conflict remains ! Cecil 
— will he act? The nation may heed his effort: 
how will he untangle the knot ? Has he virtue 
to sever it with the sword of political separation ? 
Pondering these questions, I lay upon my couch, 
and slept without an answering dream. 

THE END. 

^^7 654 







^9 















^ y> ^ ' C^ 1> ^ ^ ^ 

rt *\ 


'' .i'- ' 

« V 

: xo o^. 

.0 . y ff c> 

° -/Pm: 

o A>‘ ^ 

" V"" <■ ^ ' * -» ^o " ’ ' C 0 ^ -9 

»\' ^ ‘f‘ ■ ^ 

v^ .' - ■‘'o o' = : 




0 


^ * 0 

A *' 


* 9 ‘ 

f\ r* 
/J7 c 



NT "Ki. rf. 

3 •>* 0 ^ \^' . ^-*’^80’^ ’ , 

V' ^ ^ « A r^ .0^ S '' ' >V 

'>. » j(m !%, . <'^, 

xf 



^ aV / -s 

5 K .. <1- ^ S ^ A , , . 

’s 0 ^ /> ^ " nX ’ <i ' ® ^ ^ '/O 

^^du/C^ ^ 

V ■> ^ ^0 

tt 



0^ j 






^y'///i\\ y •v t\ ^ 

<:, ■ c- 

'^- " " ' ' " s ’ ^ % 



•>-'’ ■' / ^V.„, 



1 *« u 


O' 



^ , O X C , ‘ • 

'O' j-i' ^ 

c 

o o' 

.1 ^ >- 
o 

> 



V' 







cP* 


<■ 0 ^ 


. V 




* " ' * 




\ -^oo' 

>, C- v' » ^ ^ 

^ 'fU - '^ 


, % °^yw-' -<'■ • 

. " -V ' S ^ 0 1, K 

^ ‘ * ’A. “ “ ' .#\v , % 0 ®'" “ 

_-^ ae/rr/P^ ^ 



a 






o o ^ 

^ .0 N 0 ■' 
s'* "" -^v ’ 

o ^!ii^ ^ V .<v 



IV <t ^ 


r\ 

^ fr. - - A, ^ v^ 

% *•"’ O'^- sS- 

^ < 1 ^ ^ 

° ^ J 

V IV 

S /\ ^0 

\\ - V 1 8 ^ 

_ 't o 


5 ri 


'■'o 0* t '^'O-I 
.A -T-^ >• «^ 

> ^ ^ ^ 

“’ .'•«, "> '"'' o'; 

° V 
^ ^ *S>\ ^ 

ri^ tJ 


r iX<' ^ 

<p \v 






^ A<i “t- 

/*V V O 0 ‘ „ 



. , .v ' ^ 0 ^ c>. 4 

vO ^ ^ 


^ - -^O 0^ ' a'i:,: 

\v ^ ‘ ^ 

^ y '‘'^ <* la * f;i^ ^ ^<4/^ s, r 

^ 0 hO^ \^ 8 ' ^ " o^ 

^ V « A ^ aO" 

- -’.'^.v /r ^ 

i/%, o ^ < 1 *^ 















